


The Hacktivist, The Agent, and the Clairvoyant

by Persiflage



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awesome Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Canon-Typical Violence, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Related, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kissing, Older Man/Younger Woman, Phil Coulson-centric, Protective Phil Coulson, Romance, Skye's Superpowers, Skye-centric (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Spooning, not Grant Ward friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2014-11-13
Packaged: 2018-02-24 14:22:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 35,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2584502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persiflage/pseuds/Persiflage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU wander through Agents of SHIELD's first season Centipede-centric episodes with lots of Skye/Coulson feels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [zauberer_sirin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zauberer_sirin/gifts), [RowboatCop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RowboatCop/gifts).



> I was re-watching 'Thor' and the scene where Thor's fake Donald Blake ID is flagged up put the idea into my head that Skye and Coulson had met before the AoS pilot, but he didn't remember because of Fury's meddling with Coulson's memories. And then this ridiculously epic-length, stupidly romantic fic happened.  
> Episodes referenced (including occasional borrowing of dialogue): Pilot, Girl in the Flower Dress, The Hub, The Bridge, The Magical Place, Seeds, and TAHITI.  
> I don't own anything except a stupidly romantic heart.

**May 2011**

"Why did you do that?" Skye demanded angrily. "Do you want to bring the whole of SHIELD down on our heads?"

Miles looked sullen. "The man asked for my help. I owed him one. Now I don't."

Skye threw up her hands. "Great. You're out of someone's debt, but I bet you SHIELD will be looking for whoever faked that ID for "Donald" – and if you think they won't find you, then you're dumber than I thought."

"Are you calling me dumb?" Miles asked, growing angry.

"Yes I am, dumbass!" 

"Don't you dare call me dumb!" he shouted, grabbing her wrists and hauling her up off the couch.

"Is this a private argument or can anyone join in?" The cool, ironic tone cut through the quarrel and had both participants whirling around in surprise to stare at the man in the doorway of the shabby apartment.

He was a few inches taller than her, Skye noted, and looked about forty. His hair was dark, but receding, and he was dressed in a dark grey suit.

"Told you!" she snapped at Miles, tugging away from him.

"What?" he demanded.

She pointed at the man who was watching them with obvious amusement. "SHIELD's here. So now we're in deep shit."

Miles gaped, but Skye marched over to the man and stopped in front of him, invading his personal space but he didn't flinch, which she had to give him points for.

"ID?" she demanded.

His smile was sardonic and she decided at that moment that she might just hate him even more than she did Miles right now. "Agent Coulson," he told her, slipping his badge from the inner pocket of his jacket with an obviously practised move. 

Smooth as well as sardonic. She definitely hated him.

She took the badge from him, careful not to brush her fingers against his, and inspected it, then handed it back. "I suppose the heavy mob's downstairs, just waiting for your word to haul us off to SHIELD Central, where you'll dump us in a cage, never to be seen or heard from again?"

Coulson raised an eyebrow at that, and the smile became even more sardonic, but it didn't reach his eyes, she noticed. She tried not to notice that he had nice blue eyes – neither watery, nor icy, but a rather pleasant blue that she figured would look warm when viewed by a friend. She stepped back from him, but she didn't join Miles, who still stood in the middle of the room, already looking cowed. She sighed, wondering once again just why she'd hooked up with him.

"I do have a team downstairs, as it happens," Coulson said. "but – at this precise moment – I'm not planning on hauling you off to 'SHIELD Central'."

"No?" Skye folded her arms across her chest, glaring defiance at him. "Then what do you want Mr Robot Agent? I doubt it's anything good."

"Your friend there provided a fake ID for one Dr Donald Blake, a very dangerous young man in whom we are currently interested. I want to know everything your friend knows about this young man, and about Dr Erik Selvig, who requested the ID in the first place."

Skye scowled. "Ask him, then," she said. "I had nothing to do with this."

"Nevertheless, you are a hacker," Coulson observed. "A rather well-known member of a group called The Rising Tide."

She raised her eyebrows. "Well-known?" she asked, feeling vaguely flattered.

"To SHIELD," he told her, and she deflated instantly, then scolded herself for caring what he thought.

"It's 'hacktivist', actually. That's our preferred term."

He nodded, then switched his attention back to Miles. "Mr Lydon?"

Skye knew she shouldn't be surprised that SHIELD knew Miles' name – they had found their way here, after all, but it was still disturbing to Skye to know they were being monitored so closely. And SHIELD must have been watching closely for Coulson to have turned up a bare hour after Miles had ill-advisedly provided that ID. _Dumbass_ , she thought bitterly. She'd been thinking of leaving Miles, of moving to LA, and now she wished she'd already made that move.

Miles was answering Coulson's questions, albeit unwillingly, and Skye moved away to the far end of the room where their kitchenette area was hidden behind a bead curtain. She felt Coulson's eyes on her as she went, and she wondered why he was staring at her, but she refused to turn around and look at him. Opening the tiny fridge, she pulled out a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap, and slugged half of it, before moving back into the main area of the room. 

Coulson's eyes immediately sought out hers and she frowned at him. "Are you done?" she demanded, her tone rather harsher than she'd intended because the agent's robot man mode was freaking her out a bit.

"For now," he agreed. "But do keep in mind that SHIELD will be keeping a close eye on you both hereafter. I would not advise either one of you to try making fake IDs for anyone else."

Skye rolled her eyes, but didn't otherwise answer. If she'd been the one making the ID, no one, not even SHIELD, would've pegged it for a fake. But Miles was always in too much of a rush, and therefore tended to sloppiness in everything.

"Goodbye Mr Agent Man," she said pointedly.

"Goodbye Mr Lydon, Skye." 

He went out, and Skye turned back to Miles. "Well, we're screwed now," she told him.

He scowled. "I don't think – " he began.

"No, you don't. That's the problem." She glared at him, then crossed the room, and went into the bedroom they'd been sharing here. She began methodically packing her backpack, then returned to the other room and grabbed her laptop, her notebook, and her digital camera.

"Wait, what are you doing?" asked Miles, sounding bewildered.

"Leaving," she said succinctly.

"Why?" 

She rolled her eyes. "Because SHIELD are gonna have you on their radar now, and I can't afford to be on it, too."

He frowned. "But Skye – " he began, his voice a needy whine that she had forgotten how much she hated.

"But nothing, Miles. I'll see you in the forums, no doubt." She swung her laptop bag onto her shoulder, her backpack already in place on her back, and let herself out of the apartment. She was done with New Mexico and with Miles Lydon. She'd head for LA, and see if she could find some contacts there who could help her in her search.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson sat in his car across the street from the apartment and watched as Skye came out, and strode off along the sidewalk, a backpack on her back and a laptop bag swinging from her shoulder. She had a smart phone in her hand and was so busy typing that she was barely aware of her surroundings. He started up his car and set off after her. She intrigued him a good deal, not least because SHIELD hadn't been able to find out any personal information about her except that which related to her online presence as a 'hacktivist'. There were no school records, no records of any family, nor anything else that could tell him anything about her. It was very puzzling, but also very interesting. What also fascinated him was the obvious disparity between herself and Miles Lydon. The young man was at least a decade older than Skye, and had received a formal education which had included two computer courses, but there was no doubt in the minds of the analysts who'd looked into them, that Skye was the more talented hacker of the pair. He strongly suspected that if she'd been the one to make that fake ID for Dr Selvig's dangerous young friend, she'd have done a first class job of it.

He wondered whether she just had a natural talent with computers, or if she was an unregistered Gifted. He'd left a colleague searching the SHIELD database for her, just in case; it had been obvious to him that Skye was just her hacktivist handle, rather than her real name, but it also appeared to be the only name she ever answered to, and he wondered who she was and where she'd come from. Someone as talented, and also as politically savvy, as Skye couldn't have come out of nowhere, despite the fact that all the records suggested she had.

He wasn't too surprised when Skye walked into the bus station, and he quickly parked his car, then followed her on foot. She moved with a definite purpose as she headed to the counter and bought a ticket, paying with cash, he noticed; he recalled that SHIELD had been unable to find a bank account in her name (nor a Social Security number or any other official sort of presence. She seemed to be a ghost, aside from her Rising Tide presence), and he presumed that she dealt only in cash or kind.

Coulson continued to follow her at a safe distance, noting to himself the admiring looks she drew from men of all ages, to all of whom she appeared to be totally oblivious. That, too, interested him: usually women, especially young women, were aware of men's admiration, and he wondered if Skye was completely unaware of how gorgeous she was. He frowned. She'd been living with Miles Lydon, surely he'd mentioned it at some point – even he couldn't be that dumb.

He stopped near a pillar and leaned against it casually, watching as Skye stopped walking and checked the destination on a Greyhound bus. Then she turned around and went over to a nearby vending machine and Coulson took the opportunity to move a little closer to the bus in question: the destination board showed that it was going to Arizona, and Coulson found himself wondering if that was Skye's final destination, or just a stop along the way. Unfortunately he wouldn't be able to put a tracker on her person without her spotting him, and he knew that any attempt made by the Logistics Division to track her phone would simply alert her to SHIELD's continuing interest in her, so he made himself walk away for now. He had to get back to dealing with the fake Donald Blake, and whatever else was going on here in Puento Antiguo. He had a feeling that Skye would show up on his radar again in the not-too-distant future.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

**September 2013**

Skye sat in her van, parked in an alley behind a diner where she could get free WiFi and record her Rising Tide podcasts in peace and quiet. The food was good, and relatively cheap, which meant that she could eat well when she had money. She had to admit, when she'd walked out on Miles Lydon two and a half years earlier, she hadn't really expected to end up living in a van, but after six months of living in squats, or for a few nights in very cheap motels, having her own place, even if it was a van, was preferable. For the most part she felt safe, if she didn't park anywhere too grotty, and it suited her to have all her stuff in one place.

She was in the middle of recording another Rising Tide podcast when the side door of her van was slid open abruptly, and she found herself face to face with Agent Coulson, a man she hadn't seen since the day she'd left Miles back in Puento Antiguo. Beside him was a younger man with dark hair and a barely-controlled pissed off expression.

"Agent Coulson," she said calmly. "Fancy seeing you here."

Before she could say another word the young man thrust a black hood over her head and she felt herself being hauled out of her van.

"Hey, do you mind?" she cried, both alarmed and annoyed by this behaviour. 

"Quiet," growled a voice, and she realised after a moment that it wasn't Coulson, but the other agent, and that he was the one who had her upper arm in a vice-like grip as he almost dragged her along the street.

"Where are we going?" she demanded.

"I said quiet!" The guy shook her and she stumbled, nearly falling all the way to the sidewalk.

"Ward." Coulson only said the one word, which after a moment Skye realised must be the younger man's name, but she felt herself pulled back to her feet. Then another hand clasped her other wrist, firmly, but not too tightly, and she felt herself relaxing slightly, although she didn't know why.

She was guided into the back seat of a car, Ward still gripping her arm painfully tightly, then she heard the driver's door open and close.

"Hey, Coulson, do you mind calling off your henchman?" she asked.

"Do you never shut up?" snarled Ward.

"Not when I'm being abducted by scary men in dark suits," she retorted, wondering why Coulson was acting as if he didn't even know her. 

"Relax," Coulson said, as the car began moving. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Yeah? Try telling that to your thug, will you, 'cos my arm definitely hurts."

"Lose the death grip, Ward," Coulson said, and after a moment the younger man loosened his hold on her arm, although he didn't relinquish it altogether.

A short while later the car came to a stop again, and Ward manhandled her out of the back seat, then they walked up a ramp, and Skye listened intently to the sounds around her, trying to work out where they'd brought her.

After a few minutes of walking, including up a spiral flight of stairs, she was pushed unceremoniously into a chair as Ward whipped the hood off her head. 

"What's your name?" asked Coulson.

She frowned at him. "You already know the answer to that," she told him. "Unless I really am more forgettable than I realised."

He quirked an eyebrow at her, and she stared at him: he showed absolutely no sign of recognising her, and she swallowed down a bitter sense of disappointment, although she wasn't sure where it had come from.

"Skye," she told him. "My name's Skye. We've met before – in Puento Antiguo, two and a half years ago."

It was Coulson's turn to frown now, and she wondered why he didn't remember.

"Never mind that," Ward said, sounding angry. "What do you know about the 'Hooded Hero'?"

She blinked, then looked up at the younger agent as he loomed over her. "Hey, personal space. Ever hear of it?"

Ward glared at her, leaning his right arm on the desk so he could push his face even closer to hers, and she reached out and shoved at his chest, not that it made any difference.

"Ward." 

The young man snarled, then moved away a couple of paces, and Skye turned her attention back to Coulson. "Do you really not remember me?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No doubt it was a memorable meeting for you, but I'm afraid I meet a lot of people in my job."

She scowled. "What about Miles Lydon?" she asked. "You came to talk to us because Miles had created a fake ID for – well, Thor, as it turned out."

"Why does it matter?" Ward demanded. "You're here to answer our questions. What do you know about the Hooded Hero?"

Skye rolled her eyes, and wondered if she was imagining the way the corners of Coulson's mouth quirked as if he was fighting back a smile. "I don't know much about him," she said, keeping her attention on Coulson. She had a feeling that ignoring Ward would piss him off, but she didn't really care – it was obvious to her that Coulson was the one in charge, and so long as she didn't piss _him_ off, she figured she was relatively safe.

"His name's Mike Peterson, and he's involved in the Centipede project."

"Centipede?" asked Ward immediately. "What's Centipede?"

She caught Coulson's warning look at the younger man and realised with amusement that Ward was not supposed to betray the fact that SHIELD didn't know what she was talking about.

"Wait, you don't know anything about Centipede?" she asked. "You, with all your resources and all your money from the government, have no clue about Centipede?" She scoffed laughingly. "Oh my god! I mean, I'm just a homeless orphan hacktivist with no resources except a laptop I won in a bet, and I beat you to this intel?"

Ward leaned in again. "So why don't you tell us, little Miss Hacktivist?" he asked, and grabbed her shoulder so tightly that Skye cried out.

"Ward, that's enough." The tone of reprimand was sharp and the younger agent jerked away as if he'd been burnt. "Take five," Coulson ordered. "Go and find out how FitzSimmons and May are getting on with their investigation. And don't come back until I call you."

"But sir – " began Ward, and Skye wondered if he was really as stupid as all that, because she could quite clearly see that Coulson, despite his robot agent act, was annoyed with him.

"Go."

"Sir." He went out, shooting a sullen look in Skye's direction before closing the door, and after a moment Coulson got to his feet and wandered around the room.

"Do you really live in that van?" he asked, surprising her – if ever there was a non-sequitur, she thought.

"Yes. Why? Is it against SHIELD policy?"

He snorted. "Not that I'm aware of. I was just thinking that you're rather clean for someone who lives in a van.

"Ew," she said immediately. "Personal boundaries – do they mean anything to you?"

He smirked at her, and she blinked: his whole face had changed when he did that, and she wondered what it would be like if he actually smiled.

"For your information, Mr Nosey Parker, I have regular access to a shower and I make use of it."

"How?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious. He'd stopped walking around the room and was now leaning against the wall opposite where she sat, his hands shoved into his trouser pockets and his eyebrows raised.

She sighed. "Not that it's any of your business, but I use student facilities."

He tilted his head, as if inviting her to elaborate, and she rolled her eyes. "I've got a fake student ID," she told him. "I don't use it for anything except to 'steal'," she made air quotes around the word, "hot water and shower time. Just because I'm homeless, doesn't mean I have to be gross." She folded her own arms over her chest, feeling more than a little defensive now.

"Tell me about Centipede," he said, coming back to his chair.

"Do you really not know anything about them?" she asked, unfolding her arms and leaning forward in her chair.

"Nothing," he told her. "Which is worrying, frankly."

"What do I get out of this?" 

His eyebrows rose. "You want to be paid?"

She scowled. "No. I don't sell information. No hacktivist would."

"So what do you want?" he asked. 

She leaned back in her chair, eyeing him thoughtfully, and he waited with obvious patience. Ward, she suspected, would've been shouting at her by now if he'd been here, but Coulson looked prepared to wait as long as necessary.

"There's some information I want," she told him at last.

"That you cannot get by hacking?" She nodded. "What is it?"

"It's about me," she said carefully.

His eyebrows rose. "What is it, Skye?" His tone was gentle, surprisingly so, and she bit her bottom lip, then pulled down the collar of her shirt to slip two fingers into her bra. His eyes widened a bit, and she saw him shift minutely in his chair, and knew, with a sudden flash of intuition, that he was aroused by the gesture.

"This is everything I know about me," she told him, and passed him the memory card she'd just taken from her bra. His fingers brushed hers as he took it from her and she felt as if a jolt of electricity had passed between them.

He gave her a serious look. "I'm not going to upload a virus or exploit if I look at this, am I?"

She shook her head, not trusting her voice for the moment, and he pulled out his smart phone and plugged the memory card in, then tapped a key, and the contents were displayed on the wall opposite the door. 

AC-S-AC-S-AC

As Coulson looked at the scanty information in the letter on SHIELD notepaper regarding a female infant left at St Agnes Orphanage, he found himself pitying the young woman opposite him, and wishing he remembered meeting her. Dr Streiten had warned him that he would have some memory issues after almost dying just before the Battle of New York, and he kept finding odd corners of information were missing that he expected to be there, but this was the first time he'd run into someone whom he'd met before the Battle but subsequently hadn't remembered. He wished he did – Skye was an attractive young woman, and he didn't doubt she'd made an impact on him at their first meeting. She was also extremely talented, intelligent, and cared passionately about the things that mattered to her, which he admired. He wondered if there was any way he could bring her onboard the Bus as a consultant. He was certain neither Agent Hill nor Director Fury would go for it if he proposed taking her on and training her up as an agent, but if Project Centipede was as big as she had implied, then he could definitely use Skye's help.

"All right," he said at last, turning to face her. "If I promise to help you find the information you want, will you help me with Project Centipede?"

She nodded quickly, her expression eager. "Yeah. I can do that."

"I warn you, though, you might not like what I find out," he said, fixing her with a firm look. She nodded, and he added, "SHIELD keeps secrets for reasons, and not all of them are bad. Sometimes it's to protect people – and it's possible we were trying to protect you for some reason."

She pushed her chair back and moved around the table to lean against its edge, looking up at the wall. "I understand that," she said, and her voice was soft, but he could hear hope in it too. 

He moved to stand beside her, allowing his shoulder to brush against hers, and she gave him a smile, which he couldn't help returning.

"Hey!" she said, sounding pleased. "You should do that more often, you have a nice smile."

He felt the tips of his ears burn at her words and hoped he wasn't going to blush, because that would be embarrassing.

"Thanks," he said, dropping his eyes. "I'd better tell the others, and introduce you to the rest of my team if they're back." He lifted his eyes again, and saw she was still smiling at him. "May and FitzSimmons went to investigate the building that exploded, the one Mike Peterson rescued that woman from."

"He's a good man, you know," she said. "He's just had some bad breaks."

Coulson nodded. "You'd better come and show me what you've got on Centipede," he suggested, and turned to grab his phone, pulling the smart card out of its slot. He made himself not watch as Skye returned it to its hiding place – it was bad enough that he'd already felt a surge of desire for her once.

He opened the door to the holding cell, then gestured for her to precede him, and she stepped through, then waited for him to lead the way. 

"Can I ask you something?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You can ask," he told her. "I cannot promise to answer."

She smirked at him. "What happened to you?" He tilted his head at her enquiringly, and she elaborated, "You clearly don't remember me at all. Yet when we met the first time, you promised that SHIELD would be keeping an eye on Miles and I after he faked an ID for Thor. What happened?"

"The Battle of New York happened," he said. "I nearly died just before it all unfolded."

"You died? How?"

"Loki," he said. "He stuck a spear through my heart. I had to have surgery and some of the drugs they used to help me get through it affected my memory." 

She stopped walking and he turned to her; she had a serious and sad expression on her face and she stepped closer to put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Agent Coulson," she said softly.

He shook his head slightly, trying not to enjoy the warmth of her hand on his arm. "No need to apologise," he told her. "I'm mostly over it, now. And I got some really fantastic R&R in Tahiti afterwards." He smirked. "It's a magical place."

She smiled, then squeezed his arm. "Despite calling you a robot, I kinda like you. So I'm glad Loki didn't kill you."

"Did you call me a robot?" he asked, teasingly.

"Yeah. You were kinda robotic when we met in Puento Antiguo."

"And now?" he asked, wondering if she'd think he was fishing for compliments. 

"Not so robotic," she said in a tone of reassurance. "Less so, anyway, than the T1000 there." She gestured at Ward, who was coming to meet them with a look of displeasure on his face.

"Sir. I've heard from Agent May, and she and FitzSimmons are on their way back. Apparently they found a security camera which Fitz says he can access to help recreate events at the scene before the explosion."

"Good."

"Do you want me to take care of Skye?" Ward asked.

Coulson frowned. "No. Skye will be staying with us for the time being – she's going to help us with the investigation into Centipede."

He saw Skye giving Ward a sunny smile and bit back a smile of his own at the younger man's scowl. 

"How long for?" demanded Ward.

"As long as I deem necessary, Agent Ward," Coulson said. He turned back to Skye. "Is your data in your van?"

She nodded. "Yeah. My laptop and my recordings are both in there."

"Recordings?" asked Coulson immediately.

She nodded again. "Sure. I was keeping watch on the lab for about ten days before it went boom. I've got audio recordings of conversations from inside the lab."

"It was definitely a lab?" Coulson asked.

"Yeah. I don't know what Centipede's working on – but I'm guessing something like the Super Soldier serum, given the way Mike behaved when he rescued that woman."

"That's excellent news," he said warmly, and noted the way she lit up in response. "When Agent May gets back, I'll ask her to drive you back to your van. You can bring it here and we'll give the recordings to Agent Fitz to sort through."

"Ah, yeah – I'll have to decrypt them and then send through to Agent Fitz," Skye told him.

He frowned. "Why?"

"Well, the encryption on them is GPS specific. So the files can only be unlocked when my van's in that alley where you picked me up."

"Sneaky," he commented appreciatively.

She smirked up at him, and he grinned back, and her smirk became a full-blown grin. Ward coughed, drawing their attention, and Coulson realised that he'd forgotten the other agent was there.

"Wouldn't it better if I drive Skye back to the diner?" Ward asked. "That way we don't have to wait on Agent May's return."

Coulson shook his head. "Since we need Agent Fitz to be here to download the data, there's no point."

"Whatever you say, sir. If you don't need me for the moment, I'm going to go and look over my equipment."

"Sure," Coulson agreed. "Skye, do you want a drink while we wait? Coffee, tea, soda?"

"Water?" she asked, and he nodded, then guided her through to the lounge, his hand pressed lightly to the small of her back.

"I get the impression Agent Ward's not so fond of me," she observed when he gestured her to the couch while he went to fetch a bottle of water from the galley.

"He's not fond of the Rising Tide," Coulson said, returning with the bottle. "They posted intel on an op he was completing in Paris and it nearly messed up his retrieval of a piece of alien technology."

Skye winced. "Ah. Should I apologise to him?"

Coulson sat down beside her, noticing the way she'd kicked off her shoes to sit cross-legged on the couch. "Did you personally post that intel?" She shook her head, then cracked open the bottle of water. "Then don't apologise. And don't worry about Ward, he'll come around eventually. Well, probably. He's a bit of a prickly personality – all Specialists are."

"What's a Specialist?"

Coulson explained while Skye drank her water and they waited for May and FitzSimmons to return. He found her easy to talk to – she listened attentively, and asked intelligent questions, and she had a very mature attitude for someone so young. He'd definitely class her as more mature than Fitz, and he supposed it was because Skye had experienced more of the harsher side of life than the young engineer. She was surprisingly lacking in bitterness about her lot in life as he discovered when he drew her out a little more on her childhood. She had a sunny nature, and was clearly deeply compassionate, and she had a self-deprecating sense of humour that appealed to him. He found himself drawn to her more and more, and wished that he wasn't twice her age; he was quite sure that she wouldn't be interested in a man such as him, even if she had admitted to liking him. 

In a way, it was a relief when May walked into the lounge, with FitzSimmons in tow.


	2. Chapter 2

As they drove back to the Bus after they'd dropped off Ace Peterson at his aunt Mindy's, Coulson said, "I'm going to ask Agent May to give you some pointers about self-defence. I'm not expecting you to do any field work since you're primarily our Centipede consultant, so you'll be mostly working aboard the Bus, but it wouldn't hurt for you to know how to defend yourself."

Skye chuckled, and he glanced over at her, his expression enquiring. "AC, I've been living by myself for a long time, I can take care of myself."

"AC?" 

She smirked at him. "Yeah, AC. Because you're cool."

His eyebrows rose and she could swear he was blushing just a little at the compliment. "Even though you can take care of yourself, I'd still like you to work with May on self-defence."

Skye folded her arms over her chest. "Maybe I should show you my moves before you sic Agent May onto me?"

He gave her a slightly disbelieving look. "Your moves?"

"Yeah. I've got moves."

He smirked at her, and she grinned back. "All right, you can show me your moves when we get back, and then I'll ask May to help you out."

"Just you wait. You'll see," she promised.

He chuckled, shook his head, then turned his attention back to the road, and Skye wondered if he was going to be as impressed as she hoped. Then she scolded herself for wanting to impress him, but she couldn't help it – he was cool, exactly as she'd told him, and it was difficult not to want to impress him. She felt slightly guilty that she was so relieved he'd mellowed after nearly dying – she couldn't imagine wanting to impress the man she'd met two and a half years ago – that version of Coulson had been a walking definition of the 'scary men in dark suits' that SHIELD represented to her.

Now she felt like she had a buddy – and what was more, a buddy who was actually interested in helping her to find out more about her parents, unlike Miles.

He parked Lola, and went to tell May they were back while Skye went to her bunk to change into something more appropriate than her red dress and leather knee boots in order to show off her self-defence moves. Not that she couldn't do the moves while dressed that way, because she'd practised to ensure she could, but she felt it would be more discreet to change into sweatpants and a t-shirt, and some softer shoes.

When she returned, Coulson was waiting for her. He was leaning against Lola's hood and looking at a tablet, but when he saw her, he tucked the tablet under his arm and gave her his attention.

"You might want to put that down," she suggested. "I wouldn't want to risk the wrath of SHIELD's financial team if it gets broken."

He raised an eyebrow at her, a rather sceptical look in his eyes, but he half turned and dropped it onto Lola's seat, then turned back to Skye.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, strolling up the ramp towards her.

"Try to attack me," she said simply. "Pretend you're going to mug me."

"All right."

She turned her back on him, facing the side of the parking area so that he couldn't accuse her of cheating by watching his reflection in the glass of the lab doors. After a moment he moved up behind her and grabbed her arm, and she doubled over, moving backwards at the same time, so that Coulson's momentum carried his body over hers, and he ended up on his back on the floor.

"Damn!" he gasped, looking up at her, clearly startled. "And ow."

"Are you okay?" Skye asked worriedly, moving to kneel beside him. As she bent over him, he grabbed her and the next thing she knew, she was on her back, her head on his stomach.

"Not fair," she gasped, feeling winded.

Coulson chuckled. "Yeah, because muggers and would-be rapists are always fair." He clasped her shoulder, then asked, "You okay?"

"Bit winded," she admitted.

"We should put some mats down if we're going to continue with this."

"And you should probably lose the jacket and tie," she pointed out.

"Yeah." His expression was wry as he looked down at the wrinkled state of his jacket. He shrugged out of it, then pulled off his tie and draped them on Lola's hood, before rolling up his shirt sleeves. Skye tried to stare too obviously when she saw his forearms: they were very muscular and she licked her lips unconsciously at the sight. It occurred to her that he was very fit for a man in his forties, which she supposed shouldn't surprise her considering he was an active field agent. 

She helped him pull out two rubber practice mats which they laid out on the floor, then they proceeded to toss each other about for the next forty minutes. It was more fun than Skye had expected, and she felt enormously pleased when he used a new move on her, and five minutes later she managed to use the same thing on him.

"I'll tell you my favourite, and by far the simplest self-defence move I've ever learned," she told Coulson, "if this is the last time we do this today."

He chuckled. "Throwing in the towel already?"

"Nuh-uh. I just don't wanna wear you out, AC. After all, you're not as young as I am."

He rolled his eyes. "It's not too late to take you back to LA, you know."

She snickered. "All right, I'll admit it, I'm a bit achy now."

"Damn right," he said, then smiled at her, and she grinned back, pleased to discover that he'd not only mellowed but also found enough of a sense of humour to let her tease him.

"Come up behind me," she said, "and put your arm around my throat, like you're going to choke me."

He did as she asked, and she stamped down on the side of his foot, making him yelp and let go of her.

"You okay?" she asked, panicking slightly. It was just as well she'd changed out of her boots, she thought, or she might have really hurt him.

"Damn, Skye, that's effective."

"Yeah, and it's even worse if I'm wearing my boots."

He was reaching down to unlace his shoe, and she knelt down and pushed his hand aside to do it herself, then eased his shoe off, before taking off his sock as well. 

"I hope you're not ticklish," she said, looking up at him. Her mouth went dry as she realised that he was staring at her as if he wanted to push her down and fuck her. She noticed that his suit pants were doing nothing to hide the fact that he was obviously aroused, and she quickly dropped her eyes to look at his foot.

"I don't think it's going to bruise," she told him.

"I'll get Agent Simmons to take a look at it," he told her, and she felt relieved that he didn't appear to have realised that she'd noticed what state he was in.

"Okay. I think I'm gonna go shower and change, and then I'm going to talk to Agent Fitz about those Centipede audio recordings."

He nodded, and bent to retrieve his sock and shoe, and she pushed herself to her feet, aware that she really did need a shower if she was to avoid stiffening up tomorrow.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Simmons pronounced Coulson's foot undamaged, but told him not to let Skye stamp on it again for a few days, which he happily agreed to, then he went upstairs to his room to shower and change. If he was going to work out with Skye again, he'd make sure he put on more suitable clothing, he decided. He met May en route to his room and she quirked an eyebrow at him, and he smiled ruefully. 

"I goaded Skye into showing me her self-defence moves," he told her. "She's good."

May smirked. "I'm glad to hear it. Someone who's been living the kind of life she has needs good self-defence skills."

"Will you show her some more?" he asked.

"I thought you didn't want her going out in the field?"

"I don't – for the most part. But just in case we do need her to tag along – after all, she's got a lot of skills we can use – I'd prefer her to be confident that she can look after herself."

"All right. What about weapons training?"

Coulson shook his head. "No, we'll leave that for the moment. I don't see her going out into the field without either of us, or Ward, with her, so she'll have armed back-up."

"Very well." May continued on her way, and Coulson went on to his room. 

As he stripped in his en suite bathroom he wondered whether Skye had noticed his earlier arousal. Getting hot and sweaty, and very physical, with her had put far too many ideas in his head, and his body had responded in the obvious way. It embarrassed him to be lusting after a woman half his age – it seemed so clichéd – but at the same time, she was so gorgeous and smart, he felt that it was inevitable that he'd be attracted to her. If he had a type, she definitely fitted it.

Once he was back in his suit, he returned to his office, and a few moments later Skye appeared in the doorway.

"Come in," he said, smiling up at her.

She smiled back. "So, I just ran into Agent May and she said you'd asked her to work with me on more self-defence moves. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Although, maybe don't thank me until after you've had a session with her."

Skye's face lit up in with an enormous grin. "Tough, is she?" 

"Like you wouldn't believe," Coulson agreed, grinning back. "You may regret my asking her."

She chuckled. "Well, I'm prepared to risk it."

"Good."

"The other thing I came for was to discuss with you some means for tracking down the people behind the Centipede tech."

"Have a seat." He gestured at the chair opposite his desk, and she sat down, then proceeded to outline her ideas, and he made some notes, trying all the while to look attentive, and not simply stare at her. Her hair was still slightly damp from her shower, and he could faintly smell the shampoo she'd used: it was jasmine scented, and it made him long to run his fingers through her hair while he kissed her. Which was not something he should be thinking about or picturing, particularly when Skye was talking to him about professional matters.

"I like your ideas," he told her when she'd finished. "I'll see that you're given the necessary access to SHIELD resources to make things easier for you."

She smirked. "Sure that's a good idea, AC?" she said, her tone teasing. "I mean, I am a hacktivist."

He raised his eyebrows at her and said seriously, "Skye, I trust you. If I didn't, I wouldn't have invited you to join us as a Consultant. You'd be sitting in a cell in the Fridge right now, instead, being debriefed."

Her expression sobered immediately. "I promise I won't let you down, sir."

"Good. And you don't have to call me 'sir'."

"Is it okay if I call you AC?"

He smirked. "Yeah, you can call me that. I kinda like that."

She chuckled. "That's 'cos you're cool." 

He shook his head slightly. "Go on. I'll see you at dinner with the rest of the team."

"Okay." She gave him a grin, then went out with a cheery wave, and he settled down to do some of the incessant paperwork that went with his job. He was looking forward to dinner, he realised. 

AC-S-AC-S-AC

"Hey Skye, wanna have a beer with me in the lounge?" Ward asked as they were leaving the galley where they'd just finished eating.

Coulson spoke up from behind them both. "I need to talk to Skye in my office."

Ward turned towards him, and gave a curt nod, then continued walking.

"Maybe later," Skye called after him, but the younger agent just kept walking.

"You'll need your laptop," Coulson told her, and she nodded, giving him a half-smile, and he wondered if she regretted his intervention. Perhaps Ward was her type – he had no way of knowing, he realised, since he had no recollection of her boyfriend of two and a half years ago.

He went back to his office and decided to check the records SHIELD held from the time of their first encounter with Thor. Skye had told him that he'd told her that SHIELD would be keeping an eye on the two of them, so it was likely there'd be records in the archive.

He found a file, and a photo of Miles Lydon; he was brown-haired, with a beard and moustache, and appeared to be about ten years older than Skye. Coulson skimmed through the file swiftly, taking in the salient details before Skye arrived with her laptop. From reading between the lines, he gathered that Lydon had been a founding member of the Rising Tide, and had taught Skye how to hack, and inspired her to join his group. He discovered his own report of his meeting with the pair, and he wished he could remember it: he felt cheated by his lack of memory of that first meeting with Skye, but he felt certain she'd had as big an impact the first time as she had the second.

He looked up as there was a quick rap on his door frame, and he smiled at Skye. "Come in," he said, and got up from his desk, bringing his tablet with him. "Let's sit over here." He gestured to the couch and they sat down together.

"I've spoken with my superiors and they've agreed that I can let you access our resources for the duration of your time with us as a Consultant, but I need you to fill out some paperwork before I can give you that access."

"You're not making me sign my life away, are you AC?"

He chuckled. "No, I'm not. Although you will need to sign a – well, call it a confidentiality agreement – promising not to share classified material. Will that be a problem?"

"Definitely not," she said firmly.

"Good." He passed her his tablet and asked her to read through the agreement, and then to fill out the electronic paperwork.

"I'm sorry I had to get you to put off having a beer with Ward," he said as she passed him back the tablet.

"Don't be," she said. "I'm eager to start earning my keep around here. Besides – " She broke off, and he tilted his head at her.

"Besides what?"

"Well, I'd probably have agreed to have a beer with him to be friendly, but he – I don't know. I just have a funny vibe about him."

"Funny how?" asked Coulson curiously. He knew, of course, that Ward's people skills were minimal – most Specialists became Specialists because they were good at working alone and not very good at being team players. Skye had only met him a couple of days before and he knew Ward hadn't made a good impression on her, but he had assumed she'd get along with him since her own people skills were first class.

"I don't know exactly," she said with a shrug. "I just – it feels like there's something off about him. I'm sorry to say that as I know he's a member of your team and has probably been working for SHIELD for some time. And I can promise I won't let it interfere with me helping you." 

"If you say it won't interfere, I believe you," he told her. "I'll bear what you've said in mind, although I will point out that most Specialists have very poor people skills – and Ward's a very good Specialist."

She nodded, and he gave her a smile, then nudged her shoulder with his. "Let's get you set up with your access passwords, then."

"Hit me, AC," she said, smirking, and he chuckled, shook his head, then tapped a couple of items on his tablet.

"There you go. You won't have unlimited access, of course – I got permission for you have the equivalent of a Level 5 agent's access. That means you've as much access as FitzSimmons, but less than Ward or May, who both have less access than I do."

"Do you have ultimate access?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, I'm only a Level 8 agent, while Agents May and Ward are Level 7."

She nodded. "All right, I'll get started on the Centipede stuff right away."

He raised an eyebrow. "There's no immediate rush to get started tonight," he told her.

Both her eyebrows went up at this. "Oh. Do you have other plans for me, AC?"

He smirked and she grinned at him, and he decided that flirting with her was fun, but he'd be an idiot to try to take things further.

"Well, since I robbed you of the chance to have a beer with Ward, I thought you might like to have one with me."

"I'd like that very much, AC," she said, and he nodded, then went to fetch the beers. Hopefully he'd have a chance to find out a bit more about Skye, and it would be nice to unwind for a bit before he got back to his paperwork.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Skye was hard at work, beginning to follow the electronic trails for Centipede, when Coulson spoke up from his desk the next morning: "It seems they've relocated."

She looked up from her spot on his couch: she'd been delighted when he'd invited her to share his office, instead of working in her bunk. The idea of spending time in his company while 'on duty' was just as appealing as spending off-duty time with him, and she'd enjoyed sharing a couple of beers and a lot of conversation with him the evening before. He'd even relaxed enough to take off his suit jacket, loosen his tie, and roll up his shirt sleeves, and she still had no idea how she'd restrained herself from running her hands up and down his bare forearms.

"Where have they gone?" she asked.

"Hong Kong, apparently."

"Why Hong Kong? And what makes you think they've gone there?"

"A young man by the name of Chan Ho Yin, who has pyrokinetic powers, has been abducted from his apartment by people in flame-retardant clothing according to his handler."

"His handler?" Skye frowned at him.

Coulson nodded. "SHIELD keeps a list of people and objects with powers known as the Index. The people with powers are assigned a local SHIELD agent as their handler, someone who'll keep an eye on them to ensure they're not misusing their powers, and be available to talk to if things get weird."

"So what makes you think Centipede are involved in this guy's disappearance?" she asked.

"Witnesses report seeing Mr Chan talking to a woman in a flowery dress last night after he finished his street performance of magic. When Mike Peterson was taken in, he was debriefed, and he mentioned a woman in a flowery dress visiting Debbie, the doctor who'd fitted him with the Centipede device."

Skye pursed her lips. "Seems like a bit of a coincidence to me," she observed.

Coulson smirked at her, and she wondered if she'd ever dare to tell how sexy he looked when he did that. "Yeah, but someone posted a photo of Mr Chan producing one of his fireballs last night, and there was a woman in a flower dress in the audience. When Mr Chan's handler saw the photo on a social media site, he sent the link to HQ, who passed it on to Mike, and he recognised the woman."

Skye shook her head slightly. "Resources, you've got 'em."

Coulson chuckled. "Yeah, we do."

"So are we off to Hong Kong then?" she asked.

"Not at this very moment. First we're going to the command centre where we're going to chat to Agent Quan Chen. Depending on what he has to tell us, we may then go on to Hong Kong."

Skye nodded, closed and set aside her laptop, then followed Coulson out of his office.

When Agent Quan told them that someone had recently hacked SHIELD's data stream, Skye felt everyone's eyes come to rest on her and she swallowed, then opened her mouth to defend herself, but before she could speak, Coulson cut her off:

Can you find out who it was – because obviously it wasn't you?" 

At his words she saw May and FitzSimmons relax, but she noticed that Ward was still looking at her suspiciously.

"Yeah," she told Coulson. "It shouldn't take too long to find out who it was."

"Good. Why don't you go and get started, and I'll catch up with you shortly."

She nodded at him, then hurried off to his office, only half hearing Coulson's assurances to Agent Quan that they'd find out who was behind the hacking, and do their best to track down Mr Chan.

Coulson returned after a few minutes, and he'd barely seated himself behind his desk when he heard Skye mutter, "Oh crap."

"What's up?" he asked immediately.

"The hacker who cracked the Hong Kong data stream?" He nodded. "I know him."

Coulson was about to offer a platitude when he caught sight of the expression on her face. "Your boyfriend," he said, not bothering to make it a question.

"Yeah."

"Where is he?" asked Coulson.

"Austin," Skye told him, her voice heavy with emotion.

Coulson contacted May and told her to head to Austin, then asked, "Are you all right?"

Skye nodded, then shook her head, and he got up and moved to sit beside her on the couch. Up close he could see she was on the verge of tears, and he laid his hand on her forearm.

"If you'd prefer, you don't have to get involved," he said softly. "May and I can handle this."

She bit her lip, then shook her head. "He's my idiot ex," she told him, and a couple of tears spilled over from her eyes and slid down her cheeks.

"C'mere," Coulson said, and pulled her into a hug, one hand rubbing soothingly on her back.

He would have gone on holding Skye for as long as she wanted, but Ward's voice from the doorway caused her to jerk herself away from him, and she began swiping at her wet cheeks.

"I'll be along in a few moments," Coulson told Ward, glaring at the young man for his lack of tact in interrupting them.

"Sir." Ward's wooden expression and toneless voice told Coulson all he needed to know: the younger agent clearly believed he'd interrupted his superior behaving inappropriately with Skye. Coulson could hardly believe Ward would be so crass as to think that he'd do such a thing, and especially when his office door had been standing wide open, but there was no doubt in his mind as to the direction of Ward's thoughts. He'd have to have words with the younger man – but later as there was no time right now.

He turned back to Skye. "Ready?"

She nodded, giving him a slightly watery smile, and he said, "Your eyes are a bit red. Come with me."

He guided her to his ensuite bathroom, thinking that if Ward knew what he was doing, he'd be even more likely to jump to the wrong conclusion.

A few minutes later Skye re-emerged from his bathroom, her eyes looking a bit less red, and he squeezed her on the shoulder, then led the way back to the command centre, where he asked her questions to lead her through giving her first ever briefing.

"If you got in touch with Mr Lydon, would he want to meet you?" asked May, and Skye nodded.

"Yeah, he'd be only too pleased to see me again. We've been chatting on forums on and off since I left him in New Mexico, but I haven't told him I've joined up with you guys."

"Think you can use that to lure him in?" May asked.

"Oh yeah, he'll definitely want to meet if I tell him I'm working with SHIELD." Skye sounded very certain, Coulson noted, and he felt pleased with her confidence in her abilities.

"All right, Skye, set up a meeting, and then let May known the details once Miles has confirmed. She'll sort out the logistics with you for bringing Miles back to the Bus with the minimum of hassle. I'll be in my office if anyone needs me before we arrive."

Coulson walked out, then realised that Ward was right behind him.

"Sir, may I have a word?"

"What is it Agent Ward?" Coulson turned his head towards him, but didn't stop walking as he wanted to avoid any possibility of Skye overhearing the conversation.

"Do you think it's a good idea letting the girl set up the meeting with her lover? How do you know that they're not playing us? We could find ourselves being hacked even worse than before – "

"That's enough, Agent," Coulson said, coming to a halt outside his office, and turning to the younger man. "First of all, Skye has a name, so do her the courtesy of using it, and do not refer to her as 'the girl' ever again. Second, I trust Skye. She's already generated a number of ideas and leads for tracing Centipede's operations, and she's got a hell of a lot more intel on them than we'd managed to pull together, even with all our resources."

Ward sneered, and Coulson fought the urge to wipe the sneer off his face. "Sure you're not just saying that because you and she have got a thing going on?"

Coulson shoved him back against the bulkhead, and was satisfied to see that he'd taken Ward by surprise by his move.

"Let me be clear on this, Agent Ward. I will not tolerate insubordination from you, however good you are at your job. Skye was upset and I was trying to comfort her. It's a people skill, Ward, and while I know your people skills are nearly non-existent, try to remember that the rest of us find them very useful, particularly when a team member is upset. Skye is a member of our team, and as such you will treat her with the courtesy and respect she deserves, or I'll have you off this plane and out to Barrow, Alaska so fast your feet won't touch the ground." 

Coulson stared into Ward's eyes and noted the anger and dislike he saw there. "Do I make myself clear, Agent Ward?"

"Yes sir." Ward's tone was sullen enough to verge on the insubordinate, but Coulson decided to let it go for the moment.

"May and I will be dealing with this op," Coulson told him. "I suggest that you use the time wisely, and go and brush up on those people skills."

"Sir." Ward straightened his clothes once Coulson had let go of him, then stalked away.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Skye had arranged to meet Miles in the café from which he'd carried out the hack, and she was already waiting when he walked – or rather swaggered – in. May was sitting on a stool at the counter with a cup of tea in front of her, while Coulson waited in the SUV outside. She hadn't seen Ward since the initial briefing, but Coulson had told her that he was busy on another project. Meanwhile, FitzSimmons was aboard the Bus, running comms.

Miles sat down in Skye's booth and gave her a big grin. "Hey, long time no see."

"Hi Miles," she said, then waited while the waitress came to take Miles' order.

"Is it really true you're inside SHIELD?" he asked when the girl had gone.

She smirked at him. "Oh yeah. Got a sweet deal going on. They've actually hired me on as a consultant. I've got Level 5 access to their servers and everything."

"So what it's like, working inside the belly of the beast?" he asked, smirking at her. 

She didn't like his smirk, she decided – not when compared to Coulson's, anyway. "Surprisingly unbeastly," she told him. "I've got good people I'm working with."

"Some good stories, though, I hope?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Miles, you have no idea. But that's classified."

"You did not just say that to me," he protested, then laughed. "Come on, you've gotta tell me something."

She shook her head, then leaned forward over the table as May moved from her spot at the counter and closed in behind Miles' seat. On May's advice, Skye had chosen to position herself so that Miles would have his back to the room and wouldn't be able to see May approaching him.

"I can only tell you one thing, Miles," she said quietly. "There's a SHIELD agent behind you."

Before he could do more than jerk in his seat in an attempt to get to his feet, May's hand landed on his shoulder, easily restraining him.

"Don't try to resist, Mr Lydon," May said, and Skye saw the way his whole body slumped in defeat.

Once aboard the Bus, May took Miles to the same holding cell to which Skye had been taken by Coulson and Ward, while Skye joined Coulson in the command centre to watch the live feed from the cell on the wall screen.

"The classified information you stole from us – who did you give it to?" asked May.

"It's information, it has a life of its own," Miles responded.

"What happened to Mr Chan?"

"I don't know who that is, so why don't you tell me?" asked Miles. 

Skye turned away, finding it impossible to continue watching him, and began checking Miles' financials.

"I've got something else," she said suddenly, aware that her voice sounded hollow even to her ears.

"What?" asked Coulson quickly, turning towards her.

"I was checking Miles' bank account." She paused, then swallowed, before looking up at Coulson. "In the few days following his hack, Miles made four deposits. All set, it's about a million dollars."

She bowed her head, feeling a mixture of disbelief and horror at the realisation that Miles had _sold_ information, which made the situation about a thousand times worse.

"Oh god, Coulson, what has he done?" she whispered.

He stepped in closer and wrapped his arms around her, one hand holding the back of her head, while the other arm curled protectively over her back.

"Skye, Skye."

He said her name several times, and she sensed he was trying to soothe her as she sobbed onto his shoulder.

Eventually her sobs eased off, and Coulson pulled back from her a little, then reached up to brush her hair off her face. "Okay?" he asked quietly.

"No," she said, "but I have a job to do."

He gave her a smile, then loosened his embrace. "Do you want to go and talk to him?"

She shook her head. "May would have to hold me back," she said.

He chuckled, and she gave him a surprised look. "Given the way you were tossing me about yesterday, I can't help thinking it'd be interesting to watch. Nevertheless, I'll get May up here and you can tell her what you've found."

She nodded and he went to fetch May, thinking to himself that Skye was having a hell of a day all round.

When he and May returned, Skye looked up and said, "The company that paid Miles was posing as an ecological research group – funding studies into insects, specifically centipedes."

Coulson sighed. "So it was definitely Centipede who took Mr Chan."

"Yeah."

Coulson tapped on the comms button and called FitzSimmons up from the lab.

"Why would Centipede be interested in a pyrokineticist?" he asked when they appeared.

"Simmons thinks that considering he doesn't seem to burn himself when he uses his powers – " began Fitz.

"There's a good chance his genetics could stabilise the Extremis element of the Centipede serum," Simmons continued, glancing at Fitz, who added:

"Keep the test subjects from going – " he gestured with his hands as Simmons said, "Boom."

"If Mr Chan is Centipede's lab rat, we need to get there before the experiment's over," observed Coulson

"I sent the account data I found from Miles' payments to SHIELD HQ," Skye said, and Coulson nodded at her, and she touched something on the holo table which brought up a map of Hong Kong. "They think he's being held in this building here," she told the others, pointing it out.

May tapped at the tablet she carried, then looked up at Coulson. "I've set the course," she told him, and he nodded an acknowledgement.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

"Oh no!" Skye's involuntary cry caught the attention of FitzSimmons and they turned to her together.

"What's up?" they chorused. The three of them were standing around the holo table in the command centre, running comms for Coulson and May, who'd gone in to rescue Mr Chan, backed up by a team of local agents led by Agent Quan.

"The building Coulson's in – it just went into a complete security lock-down. He, and May, and the others are trapped in there."

"That doesn't sound good," Simmons said with massive understatement, Skye thought.

"It's not," she told the scientist.

"Can't you hack in?" asked Fitz anxiously.

"Not from outside, no. I'd need to be in the actual building. You'd better see if you can find Ward," she told them. "I'm going to need him to get me inside, or up onto the roof at least."

"I'll go," Fitz said, already running for the door.

"I'm gonna grab my laptop," Skye told Simmons. "You stay here and keep the comms running. Let Coulson know I'm working on getting them out."

Simmons nodded, her expression resolute, and Skye nodded back, then ran to Coulson's office to retrieve her laptop before heading straight downstairs. Fitz was still talking to Ward, who didn't look very happy, Skye thought, but he handed her a Kevlar vest before donning one himself.

"Come on."

He grabbed at her hand, but Skye snatched it away. "I can keep up," she said, and ran down the ramp ahead of him. He flagged down a passing cab and they bundled inside as Skye cursed how far the airfield was from the Centipede building.

Reaching the building, Ward paid the cab driver, then pulled some equipment from his bag. 

"How're we getting up there?" she asked, belatedly realising she hadn't thought to ask Ward that before. 

"Rappelling device," he said, his tone terse. He looked at her. "Hold on."

She obeyed, rather reluctantly, but knowing that it was the only way she was going to be able to get Coulson and the others out.

They zoomed up to the roof so fast that Skye didn't have the breath to cry out, then Ward led the way over to a fire escape door and she followed him down the stairs until they reached the control room.

"In here," she told him, breathless from their dash down stairs and along hallways. She threw herself into the chair, only vaguely aware of the way Ward was leaning over her as her fingers flew across her laptop's keyboard as she synced in with the building's computer system, then proceeded to unlock the servers and the doors.

"Skye?" Coulson's voice in her ear caused her a surge of relief.

"Here," she told him. "Everything's unlocked."

"Good, but I need you to do something else for me now. Chan's gone completely homicidal –he's already killed Agent Quan, so May's going to overdose him which will basically result in him exploding." 

Skye bit back a cry of horror at his words, forcing herself to listen as he told her that she'd have to route the blast through the building via the ventilation shafts, and then out through the roof.

"As soon as you've set that up, get the hell out of here," Coulson concluded.

"What about you and the others?" she asked anxiously, even as her fingers were flying over the keyboard a second time.

"Don't worry about us. We won't be hanging around. Do you copy my orders?"

"Yes sir." He'd told that she didn't have to call him 'sir', but in the current circumstances the word came naturally to her.

"Good. We'll see you outside."

"Everything's reconfigured," she told him, pushing herself up out of the chair. 

Ward grabbed her elbow and this time she let him hustle her along for a little while. Once they reached the stairwell, however, she pulled free and ran down at full speed, Ward at her heels.

They'd barely cleared the building, meeting up with Coulson, May, and the local agents, by the doors, before there was a boom and a massive fireball powered into the sky above their heads.

After Coulson had spoken to the local agents, they made their way back to the Bus. Coulson asked May to fetch Miles, and Ward went ahead with her, but Skye lingered to speak to Coulson.

"Are you okay?" She reached up to brush her fingertips across his cheek, and he realised there was a tender spot there.

"Yes, thanks to you getting us out of there." He smiled at her, and she smiled back, but he thought she looked shaky. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, and he wondered if she was just putting a brave face on it. "I've got to deal with Miles," he said gently. "Do you want to say goodbye?"

"No. I can't face him right now."

"Then why don't you wait for me in my office and we'll do a debrief."

She nodded. "I managed to download some files while I was inside," she told him, and he chuckled.

"Of course you did." He caught her hand in his and squeezed gently. "I won't be long."

"All right." She went, climbing the spiral staircase with her laptop tucked under her arm, and he thought how lucky the team was to have her.

May returned with Miles Lydon in tow, and Coulson gestured for her to uncuff the younger man's wrists. He had a feeling Miles was going to be really pissed off by the time he'd finished with him – but that was fine with Coulson, who knew how truly upset Skye was as a result of Miles' behaviour.

When he returned to his office a few minutes later, he found Skye sitting on the couch, her laptop resting open, but ignored, on the coffee table beside her.

He brushed his hand over her shoulder as he passed, moving behind his desk to collect a bottle of Scotch and two glasses from the cupboard back there. He poured them both a double measure, then left the bottle on the desk, before moving across the room to sit beside Skye.

"Here," he said softly. "You look like you could use this."

"Yeah," she agreed, accepting the glass. "Today has been pretty crappy."

"I'm sorry about Miles," he told her.

She shrugged, but he could see the misery in her eyes as she swallowed a mouthful of Scotch.

"I just don't know what to think," she said. "It turns out that everything I thought I knew about him was a lie."

She looked so sad that he couldn't help reaching out to brush his fingers over her cheek, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She stared at him, her eyes wide and wet with unshed tears.

"Why is everything around me so fucked up?" she asked him, and Coulson winced at her harsh tone.

"Not everything," he told her.

She bit her lip, then shook her head. "Close, though."

He shifted closer to her, then took her glass from her hand and set it beside her laptop, along with his own, before putting his arms around her.

"You're gonna get tired of me crying on your shoulder," she said, her voice muffled by a combination of tears and his jacket.

"Never," he told her firmly. "My shoulders are always available."

That earned him a choked laugh, and a tightening of her arms around his torso. He wished he could offer her more comfort than a shoulder to cry on, but he had no desire to take advantage of her, even assuming she could find him desirable, and he had no intention of making a fool of himself. If he tried to make a move and she rejected him it would make things impossible for both of them when they tried to work together.

Once she'd stopped sobbing, he handed her his handkerchief to dry her face, then grabbed her glass. "Finish this, why don't you, then go to bed. You'll feel better in the morning."

"Promise?" she asked, taking the glass from him.

He shook his head. "I wish I could promise," he said regretfully.

"Thanks anyway, AC," she said, then drank the rest of the Scotch.

"You're welcome." He took the empty glass from her, hoping she hadn't noticed his shiver when their fingers brushed together.

She folded her laptop closed, and he stood up, bidding her as cheerful a goodnight as he could muster. He was startled when she leaned in and brushed her lips briefly over his cheek before she went out, leaving him to touch two fingertips to his skin, which felt as if it was burning.

Deciding that his paperwork could wait until the morning, he downed the rest of his own drink, then made his way to his bedroom. It had been a very busy and emotionally charged day, and bed suddenly seemed like a very good idea.


	3. Chapter 3

When Skye arrived in his office the following morning after her training session with May, it was to find Coulson attempting to disassemble and reassemble his gun.

"What's up?" she asked since she could see he was looking pretty frustrated.

"I used to be better at this," he told her. "Now, though, it seems I've grown rusty."

She raised her eyebrows at that, but didn't offer a comment, simply settling onto the couch with her laptop to begin going through the data she'd grabbed the night before while they were in the Centipede building.

"I'm hoping we might ID the woman in the flowery dress," she told him a few minutes later when she heard him grumbling under his breath about something.

He looked up from the gun parts spread across his desk top. "Oh. How?"

She smirked at him. "One of the things I swiped last night was a copy of the log they keep of who'd signed in and out of that building during the day. Since she was responsible for kidnapping Mr Chan, she must have been in there at some point yesterday."

He grinned at her. "Smart thinking." She grinned back.

A few minutes later, when Coulson had finally finished reassembling his gun, she uttered a triumphant "Ha!", and when he looked up, said, "Got her. Name of Raina."

He crossed over to sit beside so she turned the laptop around so that he could see the record, which included a photo of a pretty young woman with dark skin and curly dark hair. 

"According to this, she left the building only a few minutes before Chan blew up," Skye said.

"Probably took whatever they'd got from Chan and made good her escape," Coulson said.

"Well, according to the data, Raina took blood samples with her."

He nodded. "FitzSimmons mentioned something about that – Simmons thought there was something genetic that could be used to stabilise the Extremis element of the Centipede serum."

"Mike didn't blow up," Skye observed. "Do we know why?"

"According to the report I had from Mike's handler, the Dendrotoxin that Ward used to shoot him actually stabilised the serum."

"I wonder if Centipede knows that?"

"I hope they're completely unaware of Mike's continuing existence," Coulson said seriously. "Otherwise they might want him for a lab rat."

"So do we figure Centipede are trying to build an army of Super Soldiers using the Centipede tech and serum?"

He nodded again. "Judging by the little I managed to understand of Simmons' very technical report on the serum and the device which she submitted after our encounter with Mike, they seem to have souped up the original Super Soldier serum with a mixture of things, with the result that it's unstable – or has been until now. I'm presuming they're going to use Mr Chan's blood to stabilise it. Which makes finding their main research facility a priority."

"Which is where I come in," Skye said.

"Yes." 

She stared at him pensively, then asked, "What happens after that – to me, I mean?"

He raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean, what happens to you?"

"Well, our deal is that I help you with Centipede, and you'll help me find out about my parents. I'm not hassling you about that, by the way. Proper SHIELD stuff has to come first, I know that. But assuming we can achieve our goals of taking down Centipede and finding out something about my parents and SHIELD's role in what happened to me, are you just gonna dump me back in LA after?"

"Certainly not," Coulson said immediately. "You're a part of our team, so we wouldn't 'dump' you anywhere." He rubbed a hand over his face, and Skye couldn't help noticing that he looked tired. 

"I'll be honest with you, Skye," he said softly. "I haven't really looked that far ahead yet. But I'll tell you this. If – or rather when – we succeed in taking down Centipede, I shall be asking Director Fury to let you stay on as a Consultant – if that's what you want. And, if you wanted it, I'd even push for you to become a SHIELD agent."

She bit her lip and willed herself not to cry. "You'd do that for me?" she asked shakily.

"If that's what you want, yes."

"Thank you." The words came out in a whisper and he shook his head slightly, then pulled her into a hug.

"I'm not gonna cry on you again," she muttered.

He laughed quietly. "I don't mind if you do, but I shall be happy for you if you don't."

She pulled back to smile at him. "Anyone ever tell you that your hugs are the best?"

He smirked, then shook his head again. "No one's ever told me that."

"Consider yourself officially notified," she said, and managed to smile back at him.

"Very well." He did his best not to show his disappointment when she pulled away from him. 

"I should get on with some more work."

"Me too." He got up and returned to his desk to wade through the paperwork, and also to compile a report on the previous day's events.

It was late in the afternoon when he received a request from Agent Hill for his team to go and retrieve Agent Shaw from Russia where he'd been undercover for the last few months gathering intel for SHIELD. He realised that it would be the first time he'd talked to Ward since asserting his authority over the younger man the day before, and he found himself hoping that Ward would behave himself today.

"We've got a new op," he told Skye.

She looked up and he could see her focusing back on him as if her mind had been a long way off – which he supposed it had as she'd been completely immersed in her work since lunch. He'd glanced over at her a couple of times and noted the way her brow was furrowed with concentration as she typed away at her laptop. He wasn't sure exactly what she was working on, but he had no doubt she'd tell him when she was ready.

"Will you need me for it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not this time. We're just going to retrieve someone who's been undercover. The op should only take a couple of hours, tops. It'll probably just be me, May, and Ward this time."

"Is Ward okay?"

He lifted an eyebrow. "Why do you ask."

She shrugged. "It's just that you didn't take him with you for the op last night, and when he took me in he seemed unhappy about it."

Coulson shrugged this time. "I had to reprimand him over something yesterday and he didn't take it well. He's still adjusting to working as part of a team after years of working solo as a Specialist. He'll be fine."

She nodded. "Okay."

"After we've retrieved our Agent, we'll be taking him to the Hub," Coulson told her, then elaborated. "It's one of the two biggest SHIELD bases in America, and where a lot of the admin gets done, not to mention a fair bit of research, too."

He saw her realise the significance of what he'd just told her, and nodded. "While I'm there, I'll see what I find out about you and your parents – there's likely to be a file there."

"Thank you." He saw her swallow before she smiled, and he smiled back.

"Remember, though, I've no way of knowing what intel will be there."

"Any information is better than none," Skye said quietly.

"I know, and I promise you, I'll find whatever information I can for you."

He pushed himself up from his chair. "I need to go brief Agents May and Ward. Do you want to come?"

She shook her head. "If I concentrate, I should have this finished by the time you get back."

He nodded. "All right."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Skye hardly knew what to make of the Hub. She somehow hadn't conceived of there being so many SHIELD agents, let alone all in one place, and when FitzSimmons told her that the Triskelion in Washington DC was even bigger, she muttered, "No way" a couple of times, earning herself a smirk of amusement from Coulson.

While he, May, and Ward went off with someone named Agent Sitwell, FitzSimmons took her over to something they referred to as "the new Tech corridor", where she had more fun than she'd expected exploring some of SHIELD's most up-to-date equipment. 

She couldn't help laughing, though, as Fitz began gathering up various items and piling them onto a trolley.

"What?" he asked tetchily. "There's no reason for us not to have the very latest stuff on the Bus – and someday you might be very glad we had – "

"Fitz!" Skye cut him off before he could lose her in a technical description of some gadget he'd found. "I'm just pleased that you're enjoying your shopping trip. Even if you are behaving a bit like a kid in a candy store."

He pouted a bit, but Simmons was just as amused, so he eventually joined in their laughter.

When they left the Tech corridor it was to see Coulson, May, and Ward waiting for them, and Skye immediately knew that something was up: there was a particularly fierce look in Coulson's eyes, and she wondered what it meant.

"What's up?" she asked as she and FitzSimmons reached the senior agents. 

"We've got an op," Coulson said. "It's a two-man op. Fitz will be going with Ward."

She lifted her eyebrows, wondering a bit at the tension she could feel between the two men, then she turned to look at Fitz and Simmons: the pair looked stunned by Coulson's news, but she saw a look of resolve gradually appear on Fitz's face, and she sensed he was determined to play his part, whatever it might entail.

"Well, that's interesting," Simmons said, her voice a little brittle despite her attempts at brightness. "Can you tell us more, sir?"

"Not here," May said. "We need to get back to the Bus as this one's time critical."

"Of course," said Fitz immediately. He abandoned his trolley of gadgets and walked over to join Ward. After a sideways glance at Simmons, Skye grabbed the trolley and pushed it after them. As she followed them, Skye couldn't help wondering what was bothering Coulson – she could see how tightly wound he was, and she hoped that the mission briefing would explain his manner.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

With Fitz (and Ward) gone off to South Ossetia, Simmons was frenziedly cleaning the entire lab. May seemed to be nowhere around, and Coulson appeared to be constantly in the Situation Room monitoring the mission, which left Skye at a loose end. She tried to concentrate on her research into Centipede, but she found herself missing Coulson's presence in his office, and a few hours later she wandered back into the Hub where she ran into Coulson.

"Skye, what can I do for you?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about," she said quietly, glancing around. His eyebrows rose, then he clasped her elbow and guided her into a side corridor.

"What is it?" 

"Fitz and Ward's mission. Did you know there's no extraction plan?"

His eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to tell her off for looking at Classified data, then he registered just _what_ she'd said. "You wouldn't joke about something like that, would you?"

She shook her head. "Never."

"Damn Agent Hand," he said softly, his tone thick with anger. "Well, I'm not leaving them there to die. We'll go and collect them ourselves."

"Knew you'd say that," she said.

"We look after our own," he told her emphatically. "Where's May?"

She shook her head. "I haven't seen her since the boys left."

"Let's see if we can find her, discreetly."

She pulled a tablet from the inside of her jacket, then smirked a little at Coulson's surprised face. "Well, I am a hacker," she observed.

"Yeah." He stepped closer so that they could look at the screen together. "Looking at this, she badged into the records room ten minutes ago. Let's go and dig her out."

Twenty minutes later, they were en route to South Ossetia; May was on stick and Simmons was still in the lab, though she'd abandoned her cleaning for sorting through the new gadgets Fitz had brought from the Tech corridor. Skye was sitting in her bunk, her knees bent and her chin resting on them when Coulson appeared in the doorway.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing at the end of the bed.

"Sure." She looked at him curiously as he unfastened his jacket button then sat down at an angle so he could face her.

"I didn't forget my promise," he said. "While I was in the SR, May was in the records room, doing some research."

Skye felt a little surprised that he'd told May about her search, but she decided she didn't mind because she liked May. "Did she find something?"

He nodded. "She found an unredacted file about your past."

"What did it say?"

"The file wasn't about you directly," he said gently. "It was about the person who dropped you off at the Orphanage. Turns out it was a SHIELD agent."

"A SHIELD agent?" She straightened up immediately. "Why? I mean, who? What does that mean?" She felt as if she couldn't get her questions out quickly enough.

"The agent in question was a Linda Avery. But we don't know if she was your mother, or if she just found you somewhere and rescued you."

"Mother," Skye said, trying to smile at him.

Coulson supposed he should have guessed she'd latch onto the idea that her mother might have been a SHIELD agent. He reached out and clasped her hands in both of his. 

"It's possible, but not very probable," he said gently.

"Where is she? Can I meet her?"

"Skye." He said her name softly, but he saw her intuition kick in, saw her realise from his tone, and the inflection in his voice as he said her name, that whatever he was going to say next would not be pleasant.

"She's dead." It wasn't a question. 

"I'm afraid so," he said. "I'm sorry."

She started to pull her hands free, but he carefully tightened his grip. "Skye," he said gently. "She had a partner, a SHIELD agent named Lumley, and it's possible he's still alive. But if he is, he's off the grid."

"So it's a dead end?"

He shook his head. "No, not yet. May and I will keep searching." She nodded, and he could see she was fighting back tears. "Don't give up just yet," he said. "We won't."

"No. I just – " She broke off, and he shifted closer to her, and she pushed into his arms, letting him hold her. He hoped that he and May would be able to find some definitive answers to her search, even though finding an agent who'd apparently gone off the grid and gone dark twenty-four years ago wasn't going to be easy.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson was having trouble sleeping; it had been an issue ever since his return from Tahiti, but it seemed to be getting worse as time passed. He'd taken to wandering the Bus at night until he felt too tired to stand, then he'd drag himself back to his room and collapse into bed. The day after they'd picked up Ward and Fitz from South Ossetia, he found himself wandering down to take a look at Lola: it was one in the morning and everyone else was asleep, or so he'd thought, but as he reached the bottom of the spiral staircase he could hear music. It took him a moment to realise it was coming from the SUV, and he walked over, then knocked on the window.

It rolled down to reveal Skye sitting on the back seat, her tablet resting against her bent knees.

"Skye? Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Could ask you the same thing, AC," she said.

He'd have thought she was being cheeky, but she looked so unhappy that he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He lifted an eyebrow, and she fidgeted a bit, then said, "Couldn't sleep. Too much to think about."

"But why are you here, of all places?"

She gave a half shrug then said, with an air of reluctantly making an admission. "I miss my van, sometimes. This felt cosy and familiar."

"I see." He did, too.

"Are you okay?"

He gave her a half smile. "Ever since Tahiti, I've not been sleeping very well," he admitted. "But it's getting worse."

She patted the seat beside her. "Join me?"

"I'm not sure that would be appropriate," he answered, although the idea of getting cosy with Skye had a lot of appeal.

"Why not?" She looked baffled by his response. He shrugged, then when she continued to look at him questioningly, he sighed, before walking around the back of the SUV and opening the door.

"Sure there's enough space in here?" he teased, since she had her feet up on the seat (her boots lay in the foot well, he noticed).

"Always room for AC," she told him, smirking. "Slide on in."

He almost choked on that innuendo-laden response, but he eased himself into the back seat as she twisted around and pressed her knees against the back of the front seat.

He leaned back in the seat, then rolled his head sideways to watch her. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to work out who's supplying the tech and the money to the Centipede people. It looks like the alien tech's coming from just one place – a guy named Vanchat, who seems to be some sort of alien tech hunter. But unravelling who's behind the regular tech is taking longer than I'd hoped."

"There's no rush," he said.

"Well, there might be," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

She shrugged. "My stupid intuition," she said, sounding annoyed. "I've got an impending sense of doom. I keep telling myself that I'm imagining it, but I really don't think I am."

He reached out and clasped her wrist. "Anything else?" he asked, beginning to rub his hand up and down her forearm.

"I – " She hesitated and he watched her intently, his hand still sliding up and down her arm.

"You what, Skye?" he asked, very softly.

She swallowed. "I'm worried about you, AC. Whatever's coming, I think it's going to hit you hard." She shifted her hand to meet his and entwined their fingers. "I'm scared for you."

He wasn't sure what to say. He knew there was no point offering Skye platitudes, she was too smart for that, and would be offended anyway if he took her worries less than seriously. He squeezed her fingers carefully, then leaned over and briefly brushed his lips against her cheek. "I'll be as careful as I can," he said.

She turned her head to look at him. "It might not be enough," she said with a sad smile. She shifted towards him, setting the tablet on the seat on her far side, and he realised she was aiming for a hug.

"Try not to worry too much," he said, sliding his arms around her. 

"Can't help it," she told him, her cheek resting in the crook of his neck. "You guys are my family now. Who else am I gonna worry about?"

There was nothing to say to that, and he found himself wishing, once again, that he could offer her more comfort than hugs when she was sad or troubled.

He wasn't sure how long they remained snuggled together, but he could feel himself drifting towards sleep, and knew he would have to go to bed.

"You feel like trying to get some sleep now?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He wondered if he was imagining the reluctance in her voice, then told himself he was stupid to doubt it. He eased his arms from around her body, and she pulled away, then grabbed her tablet, and they got out of either side of the SUV. He moved around to join her, then followed her up the spiral staircase, telling himself that it was best to cut short their time cuddling or he might do something they'd both regret.

"Goodnight Skye." He paused by the door to her bunk, and she brushed her left hand down his right arm.

"'night AC." She stepped into her bunk, and he walked away, determined to sleep and not think about Skye.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

The morning after her chat with Coulson in the SUV, Skye discovered he wasn't in his office as usual, and after searching for him, she finally found him at the top of the ramp, running on a treadmill. He was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, and Simmons was beside him, wearing a white doctor's coat. Skye watched, unseen, enjoying the sight of Coulson working out, especially the fact that he was in shorts.

"Working up a good sweat there, sir," Simmons told him.

"I don't sweat, I glisten," he retorted, and Skye stuffed her hand in her mouth so he couldn't hear her giggle.

"Blood pressure, heart rate, biochemistry – all normal," Simmons told him, checking the tablet in her hand. "All that's left is the blood sample."

Coulson hit the stop button on the treadmill, then pulled a sensor from the side of his neck. "You should know, I'm not a fan of getting poked," he told Simmons, and Skye's eyes widened with disbelief. Did he know how naughty that sounded, she wondered. 

She watched as he stepped off the treadmill and moved around Simmons, then unstrapped the monitor wrapped around his chest.

"Tell me, sir, have you been feeling under the weather lately?"

Skye could see Coulson frowning at Simmons' question, and wondered at it, but it disappeared as Simmons elaborated, "I just noticed from your chart that you're not due for a general physical for another three months."

"I made a mistake," he told her. "Took a call from my physical therapist. He asked how I was feeling. I said a little rusty. Next thing you know, I'm wired to this hamster wheel."

"Well, you can officially tell your physical therapist that you're fit as the proverbial fiddle," Simmons said. "Especially for a man of your age."

Skye winced as Coulson frowned as Simmons again. "A man of my age," he repeated. "That's something you say to an old person."

"Let's get you some electrolytes, shall we?" suggested Simmons quickly. Skye thought she sounded nervous, and didn't blame her, although Simmons needed to learn a bit more tact. After all, Coulson didn't _look_ fifty – and he really was fit.

"I dunno, AC. I reckon Simmons was right about you working up a sweat," she told him as she set off down the spiral staircase. She smirked at him, and saw him bite back a smile at the sight of her. 

She picked up a towel and carried it over to him, and as he took it from her, she leaned in and observed in a lowered voice, "Simmons was right about you being fit, too."

Coulson's eyes widened, then he buried his face in the towel before rubbing it vigorously, and she suspected he was trying to cover up a blush – the tips of his ears were definitely red.

"Were you looking for me?" he asked, when he emerged.

"I was," she confirmed as Simmons returned with a large bottle of water. "I think I've finally tracked down who's providing the non-alien tech to Centipede."

"Who?" asked Coulson as he took a swig of the water.

"Quinn Worldwide."

Coulson spluttered, then gazed at her wide-eyed. "Please tell me you're joking."

Skye shook her head. "Nope. Not even close to."

"But he's famous for his philanthropy," Coulson said.

"Yeah, but he's made his money digging up resources," Skye said. "Kinda easy to be generous with your money when you have so much of it from ripping off the earth's resources."

Simmons winced, then glanced at Coulson. "What are we going to do, sir?"

"Investigate this very thoroughly," he said. He looked at Skye. "I'm not calling you a liar, but we have to be absolutely certain of our facts before we can confront him with this."

She nodded. "I've started pulling together data."

"All right. Why don't you go on up to my office, and as soon as Simmons has done her vampire trick, I'll be up, and you can show me what you've found so far."

"Okay."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

They were in the middle of going through Skye's data on Quinn Worldwide when Coulson received a message from Agent Weaver at the SHIELD Academy of Science and Technology asking for the assistance of FitzSimmons concerning an incident with a student being almost frozen in the swimming pool.

"You might enjoy this," Coulson told Skye.

She gave him a quizzical look, and he smiled. "The SHIELD Hogwarts," he said in a teasing tone and she smirked. 

"Is that where we're going?"

"Well, one of the Academies, yes. Each division has its own Academy, specialising in the courses which are most fitted to the work a particular agent will be doing. If Director Fury will agree to you training as an agent, you'll be going to the Academy for Communications – they're the biggest, and focus on data analysis. They're also the easiest to get into, so you needn't worry about being a high school drop out." 

She gave him a dubious look, then nodded. "So which one's the hardest to get into?"

"SciTech, where FitzSimmons trained. You need at least a PhD just to get through the door." 

Skye winced. "Where did you study?" 

"Logistics. May and Ward went to Operations. More cadets wash out of the Ops program than anywhere else, because their program's the most aggressive."

"It sounds – interesting?" 

He smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll make sure you're looked after."

"You're not coming with?" she asked, surprised.

He shook his head. "No. May and I have some other business to take care of. Don't worry, you're a friendly soul, you'll get on okay with people. And FitzSimmons will enjoy showing you around."

"Is Ward coming too?"

He nodded. "That going to be a problem?"

She shrugged. "Shouldn't think so."

"He's the most senior Agent after May and I, so I'd rather have him with you than us. I'm not expecting any serious trouble, but someone did just try to kill some cadets, so it's best you have someone with combat experience as back up."

"I get it."

"Good."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

"I can't confirm Quinn's involvement in Centipede yet, but I can tell you that Seth's father works for Quinn Worldwide," Skye told Coulson and FitzSimmons as they stood together in the lab. "Is it possible Seth and Donnie are working on tech that Quinn Worldwide wants to purchase?"

"It's not impossible," Coulson agreed. "In fact, mining the talents of the cadets of the SciTech academy is probably how he finds new recruits for his operation. They are the brightest and best, after all."

Skye sighed to herself. He was avoiding looking directly at her, which was freaking her out just a little. He'd appeared off ever since he and May got back from their secret side trip, and she couldn't help wondering where the pair had gone, and what they'd done that Coulson had come back in such a distracted state of mind. She'd spent more than enough time around him to know when his mind was elsewhere, and although he was walking and talking and paying attention, she could see he wasn't really focused on the situation.

She was desperate to ask him what was going on, but she was determined to wait until a better moment – perhaps after this mission was over. She wasn't the most patient person, she knew – in fact, if she was anything, it was super impulsive – but she was sure that now wasn't the moment to push Coulson to talk to her. She just hoped that after the mission was over, he would talk to her.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Donnie had gone – they'd taken him off to the Sandbox, and Seth's body had been removed. Ward had accompanied FitzSimmons to Agent Weaver's office to arrange for the young scientists to come back again in the not-too-distant future to give their aborted lecture, so Coulson wasn't too surprised when Skye tracked him down, wanting to talk to him. She caught up with him as he was heading towards the galley.

"Ever since you got back from who knows where, you won't even look at me," Skye said. He was standing a few paces ahead of her, his back to her, but his face half turned her way, although not enough, he knew, for her to see his expression. "I know things have been heavy right now, but – " He heard her swallow. "Did I do something wrong?"

She would think that, of course, after the childhood she'd had, being shuffled back and forth between foster homes and the orphanage. He ached for her so much after listening to Lumley's account of what Avery had done to keep Skye safe.

"No," he said, turning to face her finally. "You've done nothing wrong. It's just – " He took a deep breath. "May found Lumley, and we went to see him while you were at the Academy."

"You – " She stopped, staring at him. "You found him? Is he okay? Did you – " She stopped again. "He told you something bad, didn't he? About me?" She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, and he moved into her personal space, reaching out to hold her.

"Skye."

"No," she said quickly. "It's okay. Don't worry about me." She turned, and raced off, leaving Coulson staring after her in bemusement, then he hurried after her, suddenly worried about what she might do, that she might just leave the Bus and disappear out of his life before he could even tell her.

He found her in her bunk, and she was packing, just as he'd anticipated. "Skye. You don't have to leave," he said. 

"I think I should," she said shakily.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because whatever Agent Lumley told you about me, it's so bad that you can barely stand to even look at me, so it's better I'm not here."

She grabbed her backpack from the bed, and snatched up her laptop, and tried to push past him.

"Skye, no," he said firmly. "That's not what happened, okay? Please, let's just go and sit somewhere quiet, and I'll tell you exactly what Agent Lumley said."

He put his hands on her shoulders carefully, less in an attempt to restrain her, than to slow her down so that she would listen. "I think it's very important for you to hear this," he told her gently. "It'll make a lot of things about your childhood clear to you."

She looked up at him. "You don't want to throw me off the Bus?"

There was a heartbreaking quaver in her voice, and he felt a bit like crying himself. He shook his head. "Skye, the last thing I want right now is for you to leave." He swallowed. "If you feel that you need to, after you hear me out, then I won't stand in your way, I promise."

"Okay." She turned and put her stuff down on her bed, then let him take her hand and lead her upstairs to his office, where he guided her to the couch. 

He kept hold of her hand and she made no attempt to pull it away, and he found himself hoping it would act as an anchor for her.

"When we started this, I warned you that you might not like what you learned," he said gently.

"And I told _you_ that it can't be worse than what I've imagined."

He nodded. "I know, but I'm afraid it might well be far worse." He squeezed her hand lightly. "Twenty four years ago, an entire SHIELD team and a small village were massacred when they attempted to protect you. The SHIELD team was headed into the Hunan Province of China, and the senior Agent called in an 084. Avery and Lumley were fresh out of the Academy and part of a five person team running the back end as the other Agents went in to retrieve the 084. The back up team lost communication with the lead team, and when they went searching for them, they found the senior Agent under a bridge. He'd managed to escape with a gunshot wound to the neck, but he'd bled out. He was still holding on to the 084, however."

He looked at Skye and saw her realise what he was telling her. "Me?" she whispered. "I'm an 084?"

He nodded. "Agent Lumley said you were covered in blood and they thought you were dead too, but then they realised you were just asleep – fast asleep in the dead agent's arms."

She gasped, and tears began to spill down her cheeks. He lifted his free hand and brushed them away with his thumb. "Oh god, Coulson."

"Shall I go on?" he asked.

She lifted her head. "There's more?" He nodded and she swallowed. "Tell me."

"The five back-up Agents airlifted you out of there by helicopter, and brought you home with them. But after they got back, the Agents started getting crossed off." He paused for a moment, then continued as he decided she didn't need to hear about the Agents being tortured and having their heads bashed in. "Eventually it was just Agents Lumley and Avery left, and they realised that the only way to keep their people and you from being hunted was to erase you from existence. Agent Avery was very smart, and she used the lead Agent's credentials to create a fake Level 8 clearance, then set up a nearly invisible protocol so that the foster system was ordered to move you around every few months."

He put his fingers under her chin and lifted it so that she could see his face. "Skye, the reason you were moved so often had nothing to do with what kind of person you were. It was to keep you safe from whoever or whatever had massacred so many people. Agent Avery was killed, unfortunately, but she took her secret with her. And the day after she was killed, Agent Lumley abandoned everything, including a promising career, and disappeared completely in the hope not only of saving his own life, but of protecting that secret."

"But – " she began, then swallowed, and started again. "Why did they report that I was an 084?"

Coulson shook his head. "I don't know, exactly," he said. "Agent Lumley was told that you had powers, but he said neither he nor any of the others ever witnessed them. It may be that you hadn't developed them yet – perhaps you still haven't." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You're a valuable asset to this team, powers or not, and I hope you won't feel the need to leave now you've heard what happened."

She shook her head, and the tears came faster, so he pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly, willing her to understand how much he didn't want her to go for his own sake, not just the sake of the team.

Eventually her sobbing eased off, and she straightened up.

"I'm sorry, Skye," he said, passing her his handkerchief. "I know this isn't what you were hoping to learn, and you must be feeling destroyed, but – "

"No." Her tone was firm despite the tear tracks on her face. 

"No?"

She shook her head. "Don't you see? Don't you get it, AC? All my life, I thought I wasn't wanted, that I didn't belong. That every family that ever took me in didn't want me to stay, that none of them cared. But the whole time, it was SHIELD protecting me, looking after me. It's not about the family I never had – it's about the family I've always had. SHIELD has been my family my whole life. I just never knew it."

He swallowed, overwhelmed by the fierce look of joy in her eyes. "Skye," he said, feeling helpless in the face of such a positive response to his recital of Lumley's tale.

"Coulson," she said softly, and smiled at him, her whole face lighting up. "Thank you." She leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth, leaving him feeling even more stunned. Then she pushed herself to her feet. "Before we leave I want to go and look at the Wall of Valour again."

He nodded, too amazed by the way she seemed to be glowing. He watched her hurry out, and tried to process what had just happened. Here he was, telling Skye something that could easily have destroyed her faith in humanity, and instead, her faith was not only still intact, but had somehow restored a little piece of his, too. 

She really was the most remarkable person, and he found himself wondering just what he'd done to have the privilege of knowing her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Skye is a goddamn superhero.

The days following Coulson's revelation of her origins to Skye saw her throwing herself into her work on the Centipede Project with a ferocity he would have found worrying if he hadn't understood only too well what she was doing: she wanted to do something that would justify Avery and Lumley's different sacrifices to keep her safe. He made no attempt to dissuade her from working long hours – he simply kept her company, the pair of them working long into the night.

At Skye's request, Coulson hadn't told FitzSimmons and Ward that she was supposedly an 084 – she said she didn't want them to treat her any differently, and if he suspected she was worried that Simmons, in particular, would want to run every test she could on Skye to find out why she was an 084, he didn't feel any need to refuse her request to keep her secret.

They had just finished breakfast with May (Ward and FitzSimmons were not such early risers) when Skye said, "Uh-oh" in an ominous voice, and Coulson immediately asked, "What?"

"At oh eight hundred three men infiltrated the Havenworth Federal Penitentiary. Well, I say infiltrated, but it'd be more accurate to say cannon-balled."

She tapped something on her tablet, and an image flicked up onto the wall of the galley. "They were in and out in less than two minutes, and left no fingerprints, but there's one lead."

"Centipede?" asked May.

"Seems like they solved their combustion problem," Coulson observed, as they all stared at the Centipede device on the forearm of one of the men who'd broken into the prison.

"Who'd they break out?" asked May.

"Edison Po," Skye said, and an image of a different man appeared on the wall in place of the previous one. "Former Marine, and an expert in tactics and rapid response. Apparently he fell off the grid in oh eight, but reappeared eighteen months ago at a diner in Boston, where he stabbed a friend's eyes out. With a steak knife."

"Nice," deadpanned Coulson, earning himself raised eyebrows from the two women.

"Funny, he doesn't look crazy," Skye observed, which earned her disbelieving stares. She huffed a laugh. "I'm kidding! The guy's a walking mugshot."

"Which means he shouldn't be too hard to track down," Coulson said. "May I?" He gestured at her laptop and she slid it towards him. He did some rapid typing, then nodded. "Yeah. SHIELD have made finding him and the Centipede soldiers a top priority, and they want us to run point. But we won't be working alone."

"What team are they going to send for back up?" asked May, sounding interested.

"Not a team," Coulson said. "A person. Someone who can help us fight fire with fire."

"Mike Peterson," Skye said immediately.

Coulson raised his eyebrows at her, then nodded. "Yeah."

"Makes sense," she said. 

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," May said quietly.

"No, it's a brilliant idea," Skye said eagerly. "I've been keeping track of Mike's progress. He's stable since Ward shot him with the Dendrotoxin gun, and he's been training really hard." She looked up at the older woman. "He deserves a second chance."

May glanced at Coulson, who gave her a smile. "I think she's right," he said.

May rolled her eyes. "Of course you do, Phil." She got to her feet. "Are we picking him up?"

Coulson nodded, then signed himself back out of his emails, and slid Skye's laptop back towards her. "We'll have a briefing in fifteen," he said. "Make sure the others are awake first."

"Better make it twenty, then," Skye said, smirking at him.

"You two," May said, rather cryptically Coulson thought, then went out.

"What about us two?" wondered Skye.

He shook his head. "I have no idea."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

As they waited for Coulson to bring Mike back to the Bus, Skye, FitzSimmons, and Ward stood around the holo-table watching Skye's footage of Mike rescuing Debbie after the Centipede lab in LA blew up.

"It's not good," Ward said forcefully. "At all. The guy was a ticking timebomb, literally."

"HQ wouldn't have sent him if he was still combustible," argued Fitz. "They must have found a way to keep him stabilised."

"Did they stabilise his attitude?" asked Ward. "'cos it was pretty hostile in Union Station."

"It's not like we haven't opened our doors to other people," Simmons glanced at Skye, "people with questionable track records."

"Not cool," Skye told her, "but true." She looked at Ward. "Don't worry about Mike. He's a good guy."

"Well you would say that, wouldn't you?" said Ward.

Everyone looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean?" asked Skye, baffled.

"You were brought up by a bunch of nuns, mostly, weren't you? You probably believe in forgiveness and second chances."

Skye's eyebrows rose. "Don't you?"

He shook his head. "Don't forgive, don't forget, or you leave yourself open to being badly treated all over again."

Skye shrugged. "Not always."

"You can't really be that pious," Ward said.

Skye sensed that Fitz and Simmons were feeling really uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken, but she felt she had to defend herself.

"I don't consider it piety," she told him. "I believe in second chances. I've had mine, why shouldn't others?"

Ward shook his head, muttered something, then stalked out of the command centre in the direction of the galley. Coulson came in at the other door, with Mike just behind him, and Skye turned her attention to the two men with a sense of relief. 

Coulson made the introductions, then watched as FitzSimmons led Mike off to the lab to run some tests so that they could update their Centipede data. Skye watched them go, then turned to Coulson, who was looking at her with an expression of concern.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice quiet, despite the fact that the command centre was empty.

"Yeah."

He came to stand beside her, his arm brushing against hers. "I heard what Ward was saying."

"Oh. That." She shook her head. "It's fine."

He put his hand on the small of her back and rubbed gently. "What do we have?" he asked, and she felt grateful that he was prepared to let it go.

"Not much on Po. I've checked his previously known addresses and old military contacts. Came up empty. So I'm checking into his life in prison. He must have had visitors at some point because this break-out was so meticulously planned."

Coulson nodded his agreement. "All right. Let me know what you find." He looked at her, then said, "I didn't ask before, if you were going to be okay with working with Mike – but from what I overheard of your conversation with Ward, I'm assuming you are?"

She nodded. "Of course. He's a good guy. As I keep saying."

He smiled at her. "I believe you. And I've already told Mike that I believe in second chances."

She smiled. "You and I think alike on a lot of stuff, AC. I think it's why I like you so much."

"Is that it?" he asked. "I thought it was because I'm cool."

She chuckled. "Get outta here Mr Charm School."

He laughed, then headed towards his office, leaving her at the holo-table.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson's return to consciousness was gradual, and full of pain, and it took him a few moments to realise that he was sharing the bed with someone. A female someone, judging by the press of breasts against his back. He couldn't immediately recall where he was – or who was likely to be sharing his bed – but his body had reacted in an entirely predictable way, he noticed as he took in the fact that he was lying on his left side with the woman's body spooned against his. Her arm was draped over his torso and her hand splayed flat against his chest, over his heart.

That realisation jerked a memory to the forefront of his mind, and he gasped in horror just as a vaguely familiar voice – Simmons' voice, he decided after a moment – said quietly, "Good morning, sir."

He felt the hand over his heart press firmly, once, then the arm withdrew. A pair of warm, soft lips pressed against his temple above his right eye where there was a rather tender spot, as if he'd received a blow there, then the woman behind him moved away. Immediately he missed the warmth of her body against his, and he rolled onto his back to see Skye climbing off the bed.

She was smiling at him as if he was the most precious thing in the world, which seemed ridiculous, but he could also see tears in her eyes.

"What – " he began, then coughed weakly.

"Here," said Simmons, holding out a plastic cup of water.

After a moment he managed to coordinate his hand and arm enough to bring the cup to his mouth and drink some of the water. It was cool and soothed his throat which was painfully sore and dry.

"What happened?" he asked.

Simmons responded with another question: "What do you remember?"

"Raina," he said after a long moment, noticing that Skye had come to stand near Simmons and was watching him as closely as the young scientist. "Captured me. Memory machine." He gasped as a flood of memories filled his head.

"AC." Skye's quiet voice broke through his incipient panic and he felt her hands holding both of his. "It's okay, AC. It's okay. Raina's locked up. You're safe. No one's gonna hurt you."

After a moment he squeezed her hands to show he understood. "How?" he asked.

"Skye," Simmons answered, which hardly seemed like a real answer at all, especially given the awed admiration colouring her voice. She must have seen his confusion, however, because she elaborated.

"Skye tracked you down and rescued you, with our help. But no one else would have found you. SHIELD was useless. They wasted thirty-six hours chasing after Vanchat, and as for Agent Hand – well, I'm sorry to say this, sir, but she was extremely unhelpful. I cannot think why she thought it necessary to treat Skye like a criminal."

"Wait," Coulson begged. "Slow down, please. Start at the beginning, after the exchange went wrong."

So Simmons explained that Agent Hand had boarded the Bus the morning after Coulson was captured, bringing with her dozens of agents, but she had seemed less interested in locating Coulson than in capturing anyone who was involved with Centipede. Skye had argued with her, telling her that the easiest way to find Coulson was follow Raina's financial trail, but Hand had not only not listened, but had thrown Skye off the Bus, citing her status as a hacker as justification. To add insult to injury she'd also had Skye fitted with an electronic dampening bracelet which prevented her from using phones or computers.

"It sucked," Skye said, pulling a face, and Coulson didn't doubt she'd hated it.

"I put one of those on Miles," he admitted, and saw her eyes widen with surprise. 

Simmons continued with her explanation, telling him that Hand had ordered Skye to be debriefed, but that May had ordered Fitz to secretly give Skye a sat phone that she could use just once before the bracelet killed it.

"May told Skye that she had about twelve minutes before she was collected for her debriefing," Simmons told him.

"So I walked," Skye said. "And I found a way to hack Raina's financials, and then I borrowed a car and drove to find you."

"She rang us, though, so while Agent Hand went off after the Centipede helicopter that had carried you off, the rest of us came to meet Skye. She was the one who found you, though."

He remembered that now – Skye's hands holding onto his, and her voice calling his name, drawing him back out of the nightmare he'd been inhabiting.

"Thank you," he said softly.

She nodded, looking as if she might cry, and he held out a hand to her, which she clasped firmly.

"Why were you in bed with me?" he asked quietly.

"You've been having nightmares, sir," Simmons told him. "I didn't want to sedate you too heavily because I wasn't sure what Raina's machine had done to you – your brain chemical levels were all over the place." She swallowed hard, then continued, "You weren't getting any rest while you were having so many nightmares, and since you were unconscious, we couldn't talk to you or calm you down. But when Skye held your hands, you did calm down a bit. She suggested, and I and Agent May agreed, that you might actually get some rest if Skye lay beside you."

She paused to check a read-out on the tablet she held, then added, "Skye's theory proved accurate – you've been having fewer nightmares while she was beside you."

"How long?" asked Coulson. He wasn't sure he wanted to know, but somehow he had to ask.

"It's been four days since we rescued you from Raina," Simmons said.

Four days. He'd missed four days of having Skye sleeping at his back. It didn't seem fair.

"When can I get up?" he asked, forcing himself not to dwell on the matter any further, just at the moment.

"Later today," Simmons said. "But I cannot, in good conscience, permit you to resume active field duties for at least a few more days. Not until I'm certain you're fully recovered."

"Very well." Coulson knew there was no point arguing with Simmons, and truth to tell, he suspected he'd be as much use to anyone as a wet piece of string, which was what he felt like.

"I'd like to talk to Agent May," he told Simmons, and she nodded.

"I'm sure Agent May will be pleased to see you're awake."

"In private," Coulson added. 

Skye let go of his hand immediately, and he half wished he'd let her stay, but he knew he had to find out what May thought she was doing, letting Skye share his bed.

"I'll tell May," Skye told Simmons, ignoring Coulson. "Then I'm going to shower and get some breakfast."

"I'll see you later," Simmons promised. When Skye had gone, she turned back to Coulson. "Talking of breakfast, you should eat, sir."

"I am hungry," he agreed, realising how true it was.

"Then I will fetch you some breakfast. What would you like?"

He grimaced. "Something that's easy to swallow. My throat feels raw."

She nodded, and he saw worry in her eyes. "You were screaming when Skye found you. And – well, you've been screaming quite a bit while you were unconscious too – except when Skye was with you." She swallowed, and he saw resolve come into her face. "Sir, you might not approve of Skye sharing the bed with you, but we felt it was the best solution to the situation. She offered to sit in the chair beside you, just holding your hands, but Agent May pointed out that she wouldn't get enough sleep herself if she did that."

"I understand," he told her. And he did, but he still couldn't feel happy about it, especially when he knew just how much he'd longed to take her into his bed without the inconvenience of unconsciousness and torture.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Skye found May in the cockpit. They weren't going anywhere, hadn't been anywhere since they'd brought Coulson back to the Hub, in fact, but the older woman seemed to prefer the solitude of the cockpit to the rest of the Bus without Coulson's active presence filling the place, and Skye could understand that. She'd seen May every morning for their regular Tai Chi sessions, and again after dinner before going to spend the night sleeping next to Coulson, but the rest of the time, May had been either in the cockpit or in the Hub itself.

The older agent looked up when Skye walked into the cockpit, and before Skye could even speak, she observed quietly, "He's awake then."

Skye nodded. "He wants to see you. In private."

May didn't roll her eyes exactly, but a slight twitch of her facial muscles conveyed that she had mentally rolled them.

"No doubt he's not happy about the sleeping arrangements," she observed.

Skye shook her head. "As you predicted."

"Yeah." She climbed out of her seat and paused long enough to give Skye's shoulder a squeeze. "Don't worry, I'll sort Phil out. Make sure he understands you were doing him a favour."

Skye nodded. "I'm going to shower and get some breakfast."

May smiled. "I'll come and find you when I'm done with him."

Skye smiled back, amused by the idea of May sorting out Coulson, as if she were his superior instead of the other way around. "Okay."

She followed May out of the cockpit, then headed to the bathroom to shower and dress. It felt weird to think of Coulson being awake at last. The last few days had been a waking nightmare for her: Mike being blown up; Coulson being taken hostage; being thrown off the plane when Agent Hand branded her trouble rather than an asset; having to rely on the likes of Lloyd Rathman to track where Raina had taken Coulson; then finding him in that machine, begging to be allowed to die. She hoped that things would start getting back to normal again soon, and wondered if a return to consciousness would mean an end to Coulson's nightmares. Somehow she doubted it, but she also doubted he'd agree to her sharing his bed again – she had the feeling he'd rather deny himself that support, than let her help him the only way she could.

Sighing she made her way to the galley to get some breakfast.

She was surprised to hear raised voices as she approached the galley as she had thought Fitz and Ward were getting on better since their escapade in South Ossetia. She couldn't hear what they were arguing about, but they both stopped dead when she walked into the room.

"Coulson's awake," she said into the echoing silence. 

Ward gave her an unreadable look, muttered "Good", then stalked out. 

She looked at Fitz. "What was that all about?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter," he said quickly, and she was sure he was lying, but she really didn't have the energy to worry about it. "How is Agent Coulson?" 

"A bit disorientated, as you might expect – but Simmons told him he could get up later today. He won't be going on any field missions for a few more days, though. I expect Simmons'll tell him ten days, but he'll argue her down to seven, and she'll be relieved because she expected to lose out at four."

She saw Fitz was staring at her and frowned. "What? Do I have toothpaste on my face?"

He shook his head, "I don't know how you do that," he said, sounding a little awed.

"Do what?" she asked confused.

"Read people like that. Predict how they'll act and be right every time."

Skye shrugged. "Female intuition," she told him. She wondered, though, if it was part of her heritage as an 084. She still couldn't quite get her head around the idea that she was an object of unknown origin – as far as she could tell, she was as human as FitzSimmons or Coulson, and apart from her knack of being able to read people, she had no powers. Perhaps those SHIELD agents back in China had been mistaken. She hoped so.

"I'll go and see if Simmons needs any help with anything," Fitz said, putting away his clean breakfast things.

"See you later," she said absently.

He went out and Skye had turned her attention back to her toast when she became aware that she wasn't alone. Looking up, she saw Ward in the doorway. He had his shoulder propped against the frame, and was watching her with an intent expression.

"Morning Agent Ward," she said, striving to sound cheerful, although she felt oddly uncomfortable. She wasn't sure if it was the stare Ward was directing at her, or the way in which he was completely blocking the doorway, but she suddenly wished she was back in the Med Bay.

"Now that Coulson's awake, I trust you'll drop your ridiculous attempts to make him like you," he said.

Skye jerked back involuntarily at the viciousness of his tone. "I don't know what you mean," she said stiffly. 

"Yeah, you do Skye. The way you've been following him around the last couple of weeks, like a love-sick puppy. Making goo-goo eyes at him. And then sleeping with him." He snorted in obvious disgust. "I don't know why May didn't see through you, but I did. And now SHIELD has taken down Centipede, you won't be needed here any more." He sneered. "Coulson will drop you after this, and once he does, I'll have you all to myself."

Skye opened her mouth to answer, although she didn't know what she was going to say, but May's voice came from right behind Ward.

"Excuse me, Agent, you're blocking the way."

Ward snapped straight, and Skye could almost have laughed at the expression of shock on his face, but she was too busy wondering how much May had heard, and whether Coulson would renege on his word given to her in the aftermath of their Hong Kong op.

She watched him stalk away, giving her an unreadable look behind May's back, then she turned back to her toast, only to realise she'd lost her appetite.

"Skye."

She looked up at May's voice, realising she'd been staring sightlessly at her plate. "Yeah?" she said with an effort.

"You need to tell Coulson what Ward just said."

Skye shook her head immediately, certain she couldn't possibly tell him – it would be too humiliating, apart from anything else. But it would also make things difficult as she knew Coulson didn't fully trust Ward. "It's okay," she told the older woman.

"No, it's not." May's tone was fierce, and Skye looked at her with some surprise. "Look, I know how much you care about Coulson – I've seen how close the two of you have grown. And I know Coulson cares a lot for you – he takes a lot of notice of your ideas and he values you highly. You can't let Ward's insinuations poison your relationship with Coulson, which is what'll happen if you don't tell him what Ward said. Besides, he's in charge of this team, and it's important for him to know everything about the dynamics on board the Bus."

Skye swallowed, then nodded. "I'll tell him," she said, although she felt horrible at the idea. Coulson had been through hell lately, he didn't need this as well, but she sensed that May would be really pissed if Skye didn't do it.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson looked up as Skye came into the Med Bay; her eyes were downcast, and he could sense she was uncomfortable, which puzzled him as she'd seemed quite relaxed with him before.

"Skye?"

"I – uh – I have something to tell you," she said, glancing up at him fleetingly; she had shoved her hands into her pockets, but he could still see they were balled into fists.

"What's wrong?" he asked gently. 

"It's Ward."

He felt his stomach clench. "What about Agent Ward?" He winced at the harsh note in his voice, and saw Skye react to it to. He held out his hand to her, wanting her close.

She moved nearer to his bed, but didn't take his hand and after a moment he let it drop to the bedcovers, trying not to feel disappointed.

"He confronted me in the galley a few minutes ago," she said, "and Agent May overheard, and told me I had to tell you."

"But you don't want to," he guessed. She shook her head. "Skye, I need to know what he said."

She told him, and he felt his hands curl into fists. He took several deep breaths to calm himself down again before he spoke to her.

"Thank you for telling me, Skye. You did the right thing." He reached out for her again, and this time she slid her hand into his. "I will deal with Agent Ward," he promised. "And don't worry, I'm not going to send you away. I made you a promise, back in Hong Kong, and I intend to keep it." 

He squeezed her fingers and after a moment she squeezed back. "May talked to me quite severely about my reaction to you sleeping in my bed to keep away the worst of my nightmares."

"I thought she would," she said, smirking at him; he rolled his eyes. 

"It's a sad state of affairs when a senior agent's juniors gang up on him," he said, and she laughed.

"It's for your own good, sir."

"I know." He swallowed, then looked up at her. "Simmons thinks I may continue to have nightmares for a while yet, even though I'm no longer unconscious. Would you – That is – "

"I'll stay with you," she said, kindly taking pity on his inarticulate state. "As long as you need me."

"Thank you." He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "I don't like asking you to do this."

"You haven't asked," she pointed out. "And you don't have to." She took his hand in both of hers. "It's like I told you before, AC, you're my family. Do you think I enjoyed seeing or hearing you in such a state of distress?" He shook his head. "Well then. Of course I'd do anything I could to help."

"I'd better speak to Ward." He didn't look forward to that interview, but he knew he had to do it.

"Do you – " 

"Do I what?"

"Do you want me to ask Simmons to let you get up before you see him?"

"Oh, is Simmons taking orders from you now?" he teased.

She scowled at him. "Of course not!"

He smirked at her, and after a moment she smiled back. "Yes, I'd prefer to get up, and be dressed before I speak to Ward." He rubbed his free hand over his face. "It's as well we're here at the Hub. We can hand him over to Agent Hill for assessment, and request a replacement Specialist be assigned before we leave. While I'm talking to Maria, I'll also ask her about you becoming an Agent. You've more than earned the right to train for it."

She blushed and he realised that she hadn't been entirely convinced that he would honour his promise.

"Speak to Simmons for me, please?" he asked.

She nodded, gave his hand another squeeze, then walked across to the comms.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Skye stood in the command centre with FitzSimmons and May watching as Ward walked away from the Bus.

"I can't believe Ward – " began Simmons, then chopped herself off. "Sorry, Skye. Of course I believe you, and Agent May, when you say that Ward was being weird and creepy about you. I just – I didn't think he was like that."

"That's the thing about Specialists," Coulson said, and they all turned to look at him. "They're very good at their job. And Ward was rated very highly for espionage skills. The highest since Agent Romanov, in fact – although he's not as good as she is."

"No one is as good as Natasha Romanov," May said, and Coulson smiled at her.

"True. We'll be getting a new Specialist in a couple of hours, Antoine Triplett. I'm going to wait until he gets here to brief you on what we'll be doing next, that way I don't have to repeat myself. But suffice to say that I don't believe we've seen the last of Centipede." He turned to Skye. "Can I have a word?"

She nodded, then followed him, leaving the others to speculate about what Coulson might have meant about Centipede. "It's good to see you up and about," she told him as they entered his office.

"It's good to be up and about," he told her. "Even if I do feel like a piece of wet string." He gestured at the chair in front of his desk, and she sat down.

"Agent Hill has agreed to you training to become a Level One agent," he said. "Subject to Director Fury's agreement, but she doesn't think he will object, given how much help you've been during our attempt to track and take down Centipede."

"Thank you."

He nodded, and she waited, sensing that that wasn't why he'd brought her to his office – he could easily have told her that in front of May and FitzSimmons.

"Having said that, I'm going to ask you to use your hacking skills for me."

Her eyes widened. "Is this a test?" she demanded.

"No. I don't doubt your loyalty to SHIELD, Skye – you've demonstrated it over and over. When I was in Raina's machine – " He paused and she leaned forward in her chair, reaching for his hands where they were lying on his desk. "When I was in Raina's machine, I discovered that I'd been lied to, by SHIELD."

She tightened her grasp on his hands. "Tell me."

He told her, and she listened, a lump in her throat and a heavy ache in her chest, as he explained about Tahiti being a false memory he'd been given, about the fact that he'd been well and truly dead – although he still didn't know for how long, and that Raina had been trying to find out how he'd survived being dead because someone who called themselves 'the Clairvoyant' wanted to know. 

"Who's the Clairvoyant?" she asked, deciding to concentrate on practicalities for now. She was horrified by what Coulson had told her, but she couldn't think about it just yet – she had to be strong for him, to help him deal with what he'd found out.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Raina said she'd never met him. In fact she only interacted with him directly for the first time that day, after he killed Po remotely."

"This is probably a stupid question, but could someone really be clairvoyant?"

He shook his head. "It's not a stupid question. I don't think there can be a psychic leading the Centipede group, though – there are none on the Index. They're a myth."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Um, so was Thor. Except, you know, he's not."

He gave her a tired smile. "I know. But SHIELD has never found a genuine psychic – any that we've investigated over the years have turned out to be fakes. So it must be an alias someone's using. I figure, though, that if this Clairvoyant wants so badly to know how I survived dying, then it might be a good idea for us to know. I've already asked Director Fury to let me see my file – but he wouldn't, said it wouldn't do me any good. So if asking nicely won't get me those answers, not asking but instead hacking in, should. If you get caught – "

"Coulson, please," she protested.

He smiled. "I'm not expecting you to get caught, but _if_ you do, I'll take full responsibility – tell them that you were doing it on my express orders."

"When do you want me to start?"

"Tonight. There'll be less chance of interruptions."

"All right."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson was pleased to discover that Trip, although a very good Specialist, had excellent people skills. The six of them sat down to dinner together that evening, following Coulson's briefing about his conversations with Po and Raina before he was strapped into the memory machine, and Trip seemed to slip into the gap left by Ward's departure with ease. He had a lively sense of humour, was very self-deprecating, yet clearly knew how to handle himself. He made jokes with FitzSimmons and Skye, and talked about missions with May, clearly downplaying his own role, yet it was apparent to Coulson that he was very good at his job.

"Now that Skye's going to be training as a SHIELD agent, I want you to handle her weapons training," Coulson told Trip. "Agent May will be her SO, as they already have a good working relationship, but I'd rather you train her in weapons since May specialises in unarmed combat."

Trip gave Skye an easy smile. "I'd be delighted to, sir. Thank you for asking me."

Coulson nodded. "FitzSimmons, I'd like you to spend time with Skye, talking to her about your experiences at the Academy, and also help her to get up to speed on the science and technology hardware sides."

He looked at Skye, who had ducked her head and was concentrating on her plate of stir fry which May had made for them. "I'm going to be pushing you quite hard, Skye," he told her, and she looked up. "But I know that you're capable of this."

She flushed. "Thank you, sir." She looked at the others. "Thanks for helping me, it means a lot to me."

"You've earned it," May said firmly. "Coulson wouldn't even be sitting here right now if it wasn't for you." She smirked. "Doesn't mean I'm not going to work you hard, though."

Skye laughed. "Of course you will."

"What say we start taking a look at weapons after dinner?" Trip asked. "Let me start familiarising you with everything?"

"Sure." Skye glanced over at him, and Coulson nodded back imperceptibly. They would get started on trying to find his file tonight. Everyone was used to Skye working late in his office, so they wouldn't think anything of it if that habit continued, particularly since he'd briefed them on his belief that Centipede wasn't totally destroyed despite Agent Hand's efforts during the period he'd been captured.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a Marvel Comics fan, so if I've got anything about Skye's powers wrong, please just suspend your disbelief a bit more firmly!

"How did you get on with Trip?" Coulson asked Skye when she turned up in his office later that evening, her laptop tucked under her arm.

She smiled. "He's a great guy. Very relaxed. He seems almost too laid-back, if you know what I mean, but he definitely knows about weapons."

"Good. I think he'll be a good fit for the team."

"Definitely." She wasn't going to bring up how bad a fit Ward had been – she didn't want to think about him any longer. He was gone, Trip was here instead, and she had more than enough to keep her occupied, between learning to be a SHIELD agent, and continuing to be Coulson's Centipede consultant. And now he wanted her to hack into SHIELD. Which, she had to admit, caused her a frisson of excitement: doing it from the outside had been dangerous, of course, but somehow, doing it from within SHIELD seemed even more dangerous – probably because she had more at stake now.

She sat on the couch, then smiled when Coulson came to sit beside her. "Where do you want me to start?" 

"I'll show you. May I?" He gestured at her laptop, so she passed it over, then leaned against him to watch as he signed in. He typed a handful of things, then passed the laptop back. "There. I've got perfectly legitimate reasons to be looking at the historical administrative data, so that should keep anyone from becoming suspicious if they just look casually at what I'm apparently doing."

She nodded. "You'd better keep an eye on the time," she told him. "Let me know when you need to sleep 'cos I tend not to clock watch when I'm hacking."

"Very well."

She looked up at him and asked, "Did you change your mind?"

He shook his head. "No. It's just – well, it's been a long time since anyone's shared my bed. The last time was before New York. And I know it's for medical reasons, but I can't help feeling a bit weird about it."

She shrugged, turning her attention back to the laptop because she didn't want him to see her face. "It's a bit weird for me too," she said carefully. "After all, you were unconscious before – you didn't even know I was there."

"Consciously, I didn't, but I must've subconsciously for your presence to have been so effective in easing the nightmares." He clasped her wrist lightly and she stilled her fingers on the keyboard. "I am very grateful to you for this, Skye, and I hope you know I'd never take advantage of this situation."

She snorted. "Of course you wouldn't," she said immediately, and hoped very hard that he'd never find out just how much she _wanted_ him to take advantage.

She began burrowing into the database, pulling up any references to Coulson dated within the last two years, and transferring the resultant files into a hidden folder she'd created for him to access. There seemed to be a lot more files than she would have imagined: inter-office memos; purchase orders; travel documentation; personnel documents, including appraisals – which she avoided reading.

She had only gone back ten months when Coulson called her name, and she lifted her head to see him looking rather wearily at her.

"Time is it?" she asked.

"Midnight."

"Huh." She closed her laptop, then smiled at him. "Bed then?"

He nodded, and she pushed herself up from the couch. "I'll go and get my stuff."

"Yes." He came round from behind his desk, and she stepped over to him, hugging him. 

"Relax, AC, I promise not to bite."

"Skye!" She raised her eyebrows at his shocked tone. "Don't say things like that, please."

She chuckled. "I'll be good, I promise."

"Please."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson had already changed out of his suit by the time Skye returned with her stuff, and he waved her to the ensuite, then climbed into the bed, trying to ignore the butterflies in his belly. He watched through half closed eyes when she came out of the bathroom now wearing a long, baggy t-shirt, and a pair of briefs that looked more like boxer shorts than something women wore.

She climbed into the bed beside him, then gave him an expectant look, so he reached out and turned off the lamp.

"Did you find much data?" he asked quietly.

"Lots. I've dumped it all into a folder that only you or I can access. I didn't look too closely at any of it."

"I don't mind if you read my files, Skye."

"I don't want to pry," she said.

"Do you – " he began, but she reached out and placed a finger over his lips. 

"Go to sleep, AC."

He bit back a moan of longing. He wanted to suck her finger into his mouth. He wanted to taste every part of her. He wanted Skye so much – more than he could ever remember wanting a woman before.

"Sorry." He turned onto his right side, then tried not flinch when she pressed herself against his back, sliding her left arm under his to rest her hand over his scar.

"You need to relax, AC."

"I'm not sure I can," he admitted. He was all too aware of how hard he'd grown, and he was scared she was going to find out, and be disgusted at his lack of control.

"Coulson?"

"Yes Skye?"

"You don't have to worry about getting aroused, okay. I know it's an involuntary reaction. It's nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of. I've already spent four nights sharing a bed with you."

"Oh god!" The groan was quite involuntary, and he started to pull away from her, but she held him back.

"You're not going to get any rest if you go running off," she said, her tone a little sharp. "Just calm down. You're going to be okay. _We're_ going to be okay." He felt her lips against the nape of his neck, just above the top of his t-shirt, then she slid both hands up underneath it and began rubbing circles over his stomach and chest.

"Relax," she said softly. "I've got you."

He blinked back tears, as he realised that this was the most anyone had touched him since he'd died – after all his memories of Tahiti were fake ones. Gradually Skye's touch and the warmth of her body against his helped his muscles to relax and he drifted away into sleep.

The dream began with a woman massaging his neck in Tahiti, and a man offering him a drink – the fake memories Fury had had implanted – but then the dream changed. A figure was slicing open the skin covering his skull and peeling it back, then cold metallic "fingers" began prodding and poking at his exposed brain, while Fury stood over him, ordering him to get back to work and stop wasting time. One of the metal fingers probed deeper and he cried out in pain.

It was his cry that woke him, and he lay gasping, only half aware that Skye was beside him, and talking to him. Gradually awareness came back to him, and he was able to focus on Skye's face leaning over him, one hand stroking across his brow and down his cheek, while her other hand clasped his shoulder firmly, but not too tightly.

"AC? Are you with me?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah." He realised he was lying on his back and that the bed covers were tangled around his lower legs.

"Let me get you some water," she said, starting to pull away, but he reached up and grasped her wrists.

"Don't go," he said, then cringed as he realised how pathetic he sounded.

"All right." She cupped his cheek, then leaned down and pressed her brow to his. "That was a bad one, huh?"

He shuddered, wondering if the stabbing metal finger was a real memory, or just a nightmare image. "Yeah." 

He sat up suddenly, bumping heads with Skye, and muttering an apology, lurched out of bed and rushed into the bathroom.

She went after him, rubbing one hand up and down his back as he threw up into the toilet bowl. Once he'd finished, she filled a glass with water and waited while he rinsed his mouth out, then helped him up to his feet.

"Sorry," he muttered, brushing his hand over her forehead.

"No damage done, AC," she said, smiling at him. "I've got a hard head."

He gave her a weak smile, then shivered.

"Come back to bed."

He shook his head. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," she said gently. "Trust me." She slid her hand into his and led him back to the bed, then made him sit on the edge. "You need to change your t-shirt, this one's damp – you were probably sweating when you were having that nightmare." 

He nodded. He was shivering properly now. "Over there," he said, gesturing at the drawers. "Second one down."

She fetched a clean t-shirt, then peeled the damp one off him, and he automatically lifted his arm to cover his scar.

"I've seen it before, AC," she said softly. "Simmons and I had to change your t-shirts quite a few times when you were unconscious."

She put her hand on his arm and gently pushed it aside, then knelt down in front of him and leaning in, kissed him carefully up and down the length of the puckered skin.

"Skye." He hardly knew how to cope with such tenderness, and he realised with embarrassment that he was weeping.

"There we go," she said, getting back up to her feet. "That's better." She pulled the clean t-shirt down over his head and he automatically lifted his arms to slide them into the sleeves. 

He was still crying, but she seemed completely unfazed by it. "That's it, AC, let it out. You'll feel better afterwards." She pushed gently on his shoulder. "Lie down again. We need to cover you up and get you warm, or you'll catch a chill."

He obeyed, feeling comforted by doing what she told him, and when she'd disentangled the bedding, she pulled it up over him, then slipped into the bed beside him. 

"Thank you." It came out as a raspy whisper, but he got the words out as his tears began to subside.

"Anything for you, AC." She settled on her side as he lay on his back, and he felt surprisingly content when she put her head on his shoulder, her left arm slung across his torso. He insinuated his right arm under her body, then wrapped it around her.

"Comfy?" she asked, and he thought he could hear a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Yeah."

"Good. Go back to sleep, if you can. I've got you."

He closed his eyes, surprised to find that he didn't fear any further nightmares.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

On the second night of hacking Coulson's records, he began working through what Skye had already downloaded while she continued to dig out more files.

"Who's Dr Streiten?" she asked, some time around midnight.

Coulson looked up, his eyes distant, and she waited for him to refocus on the here and now, on her, instead of whatever he'd been reading.

"One of my surgeons," he answered. "He – well I thought he'd operated on my heart, but the memories Raina's machine pulled up make me think that he was there for the memory adjustment surgery. Why?"

"Apparently he's gone off the grid. No one's seen him since –" She glanced back at the document in front of her. "Huh, interesting. No one's seen him since the day we rescued you from Raina."

Coulson frowned, then rubbed his hand over his face. "It could be a coincidence," he offered.

She snorted. " _You_ don't think so," she observed. 

He smirked. "Neither do you, apparently."

She shrugged. "I'm good at noticing patterns."

"And you've found one?" he asked, coming out from behind his desk to sit beside her on the couch.

"Yup." She angled the laptop towards him, and he leaned forward, his shoulder pressing against hers as he read through the list of eight medical staff at various levels, all of whom had gone off the grid.

"When did you call Director Fury and ask to see your file?" 

"A couple of days before Raina took me hostage," he said. "I was getting worried: erratic sleeping patterns; too much energy at certain times of the day, then almost none later; nightmares. Though nothing on the scale of what I'm having now."

"I think Director Fury's been spiriting people away so that you can't track them down to talk to them," she told him.

He nodded. "I wouldn't put it past him."

"Let's hope it's that rather than that whoever's in charge of the Centipede group's been rounding them up."

He gave her a pained look. "I should've thought of that," he said.

"Relax, AC. You can't think of everything. That's what you've got a team for." She folded the laptop shut. "We should get some sleep."

"Yeah." He got up and went over to his desk to tidy away the files, then joined her by the door.

"Are you feeling more relaxed about this tonight?" she asked, trying not to react when he put his hand to the small of her back to guide her out of his office.

"Yes, thank you."

"Good." 

Skye wished she could tell him how much she'd like to spend every night in his bed, but since he'd barely accepted her doing so for medical reasons, she could hardly believe he'd accept her presence there for any other reason. She wasn't completely certain he felt the same way about her that she did about him, but she had a strong inkling that he probably fancied her more than he let on. Maybe after this business was sorted out, they'd get a breathing space, and then maybe she'd find the courage to tell him how she felt.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

It took them longer than Coulson had hoped, but not as long as he'd anticipated, to find what he was looking for – not that he'd known just what he was looking for, of course, which was another reason it wasn't until the day before Simmons had stipulated he could resume active field duties, that they discovered that Coulson had been treated at a place called the Guest House. According to the file that Skye had found, it was an abandoned World War 2 bunker – but as she pointed out, if it was abandoned why was there a record of it being opened recently, and by a Level 10 Agent, ie Director Fury.

"That's where we're going, then," he told her. 

"What are you going to tell the others?" she asked.

"That it's a top secret medical facility, and we've had orders to go and check it hasn't been taken over by the Centipede group."

She nodded, and he could see she was uneasy at the prospect of lying to the rest of the team. He came out from behind his desk to sit beside her on the couch. "I don't like lying to them, Skye, but at the moment, I think it's best they don't know any more than that. Depending on what we find there, I'll tell them afterwards."

"May won't be happy at you lying to her," Skye observed.

"No, but May and I go back a long way – once she knows why I kept it secret, she'll probably forgive me."

She nodded, and he wondered what she was thinking about. "It must be nice, having a friend who's known you for so long."

"Sometimes it's the best thing," he said, "but sometimes it's a bit annoying, because it's a lot harder to hide things from someone who's known you a long time. It can also be hard to make her obey orders."

Skye snorted a laugh. "Sorry, AC."

He shook his head at her. "You remind me a lot of May when she was younger," he observed.

"Me?" she asked incredulously. "I'm nothing like May."

"Oh, you are – in some ways. You are both good at reading people, though you seem to have a better knack for it than May. And you're both very independent and self-sufficient."

She ducked her head and he realised that she was both embarrassed and flattered by his words. 

"We should probably get some sleep," he observed. "Tomorrow could be a very long day."

"Do you still want me to sleep in your bed?"

He supposed he couldn't blame her for asking since he hadn't had a nightmare at all the night before.

"You can go back to your bunk, if you prefer," he said. He wasn't sure he dared to admit to her that it was the last thing he wanted. Even though there was nothing sexual going on between them he enjoyed sharing a bed with her. She made him feel safe – and cherished – and that was a very novel feeling, and one he'd prefer not to give up.

She shook her head. "I don't mind sharing with you. Besides, what are the odds that the very first night I don't share with you, you have a bad nightmare?"

"I don't know, but probably pretty high," he admitted.

She nodded, and they made their way to his room. 

"What do you think we'll find tomorrow?" she asked once they'd settled into bed together, Skye spooning him as she often did.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I'm not sure what a top secret medical facility's going to look like."

"Doubt it'll be too pretty if it's in a World War two bunker," she observed.

"No."

They slept for about three hours before Coulson woke Skye thrashing about and crying out, apparently in agony. It was the worst nightmare reaction he'd had since she'd begun sleeping in his bed, and she had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm herself before she tried to wake him. 

Once awake he began sobbing so she wrapped her arms around him, rubbing her hands up and down his back until his sobs eased. 

"What was that all about?" she asked gently.

"I dreamt the bunker collapsed trapping you inside with me. We were trying to dig our way out with our hands, but we were running out of air – " He broke off with a shudder, and Skye tightened her hold on him.

"It was just a dream, AC," she said in a soothing tone. "Just a really bad dream. You're safe here, and so am I. We're both safe." 

She gradually felt the tension easing out of his muscles, and after a while she pulled back a little to look at his face. "Better now?"

"Yeah." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for, AC."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson had anticipated that May wouldn't be very happy at the idea of him going into the field as soon as Simmons had given him clearance, but he didn't anticipate her trying to stop him from even entering the medical facility. She had tried every channel to let whoever was at the Guest House know they were coming, but no one had answered any of her hails, and as a result she wanted him to remain on the Bus while she and Trip investigated.

"Since it's a top secret facility, it's not entirely surprising that they didn't answer our hails," he pointed out tetchily. "They'll probably ask us for a code phrase or something. Sign and countersign."

"And do you know what that is?" May asked.

He shrugged. "No, which is why Skye's coming with me and Trip. She can check the protocol directives in the SHIELD database."

"At least let me come with you," May said in a lower voice, glancing over at where Trip was helping Skye into a Kevlar vest.

"I need you here, May," he said in a firm voice, speaking as quietly as she had. "I'm not leaving FitzSimmons on the Bus without someone to protect them if trouble turns up."

"Are you expecting trouble?" she demanded, looking worried.

"I always expect trouble," he told her. "And especially when I don't know if a SHIELD facility has been taken over by Centipede or not."

She sighed. "All right, fine. But make sure Trip has your backs."

"Of course." He patted her arm, knowing how worried she must be. "We'll be as quick as we can."

She nodded, then stood with her arms folded and her feet planted firmly, as he led Trip and Skye down the ramp and across the mountain plateau on which they'd landed the Bus.

Reaching the doors of the facility, Coulson called a greeting, and a recorded voice asked, "How was the drive from Istanbul?"

"Skye?" he asked, not looking back at her, but knowing that she was checking the protocols on the tablet she'd brought with her.

"It's not listed," she told him.

"Not looking good, boss," Trip observed.

"Wait!" Skye said, and he half turned towards her, eyebrows raised. "You kept using the phrase 'It's a magical place', when you talked about Tahiti. Try 'magical'."

He shrugged, then called, "Magical." He was only half surprised when the doors slid open, and he caught Skye's eye and nodded at her. She was smirking, which he supposed she was entitled to do.

They walked inside, Skye at his left shoulder, and Trip at his right, and found two SHIELD agents in their early thirties waiting for them.

"I'm Agent Coulson," he told them. "These are Agents Skye and Triplett."

"Agent Coulson. I have to say, we weren't expecting to see anyone out here for another few weeks. No one's scheduled anything."

"We're here primarily to ensure that everything's as it should be, agent," Coulson said. "I assume that you've been briefed that there's an organisation calling itself the Centipede group out there, doing very experimental work with drugs and tech to create a new breed of super soldiers."

"We've heard," agreed the second agent. "I can assure you there's no one else here at present. And we've strict instructions from Director Fury himself not to let in anyone who doesn't know the countersign."

"Good. Since we're here now, though, I'd like to take a look around."

"Of course, sir."

"Trip, you stay and keep these gentlemen company. Skye, you're with me."

He ignored the look Trip gave him, knowing the younger man wanted to object, but didn't want to disagree with his superior in front of the other two agents.

"Sir." 

Coulson gave him a nod, then led the way down the corridor, Skye close behind. As soon as he was sure they were out of earshot, he said quietly, "We'll do this as quickly as we can."

"Do you know what you're looking for, AC?" she asked.

"Not exactly, but I should be able to recognise things I saw when I was in Raina's memory machine."

He saw her glance back, and then she slipped her free hand into his. She squeezed his fingers, and he squeezed back, touched and pleased by the gesture.

They peered into various rooms until he stopped. "This one," he said, and pushed the door open, Skye close behind him. "That's the machine that they used to modify my memories," he said.

"Ugh, creepy," she whispered.

"Yeah," he agreed, feeling breathless and slightly dizzy.

"AC?" Skye's anxious voice broke him from the memory that was threatening to overwhelm him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Well, no, but – Let's just get out of here, eh?"

"Of course."

In another room they found wall cabinets that were temperature controlled, and held ranks and ranks of phials of different liquids.

"This one was in your notes," Skye told him, peering in through the glass door of the cabinet beside the one Coulson was looking at. "GH-325."

"I wonder what it is?" he mused. "Perhaps I should take some and get Simmons to analyse it."

"Couldn't hurt, could it?" Skye asked.

He shrugged. "Let's look in the last couple of rooms, first," he said, "then we'll pick it up on the way back."

"You're the boss, boss."

He smiled at her attempt at humour, sensing that she was more nervous about being here than she was letting on.

He pushed open the final door, which was heavier than the others, then stared as he caught sight of a handful of letters on another door opposite the one where they'd entered.

"TAHITI?" asked Skye, apparently recognising the letters as the end of the name as easily as he had.

"Yeah," he said heavily.

They crossed the room together, but it was Coulson who lifted the large metal case down from in front of the door and opened it. 

Skye slipped her hand into his as she followed him into the room, then gasped in shock, "Oh my god!" 

Coulson could only stand and stare at the large tank containing the upper body of a large blue alien from which ran a number of tubes of liquid. 

"That's where the GH-325 came from, sir," she said, pointing at one of the larger containers that was labelled with exactly that combination of letters and numbers.

"Oh Fury, what have you done?" moaned Coulson, reaching out to grab the wall behind him as he felt himself beginning to shake.

A moment later they heard the distant sound of gunfire, and they exchanged alarmed looks, then hurried out of the room.

"Jam that door," Coulson said. "I don't want anyone else getting in there again." She nodded. "I'm going to see what's going on."

"Be careful," she begged, and he nodded, then hurried away.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson hurried up the corridor, his gun in his hand as he heard voices shouting unintelligibly, then more gunfire. He was two thirds of the way back to the point where he'd left Trip and the other two agents when John Garrett came barrelling down the corridor.

"Garrett?" he questioned.

"Phil? You need to get your man and get out of here," he gasped. "The Clairvoyant's here, and he brought friends – Centipede friends."

Coulson opened his mouth to answer, then saw Trip ahead of him. He was clutching his left shoulder, and as Coulson started towards the younger agent, he slid down the wall, and Coulson realised Trip had been shot in the thigh as well as the shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Coulson asked as Garrett ran down the corridor, towards the room he'd left Skye in.

The other man shouted something back, but it was incomprehensible to Coulson, and he decided it was more important to deal with Trip first, then find out what the hell Garrett was up to. 

"What happened?" Coulson asked, as he knelt beside the younger man and pulled a field medkit out of the pocket on the inside of his Kevlar vest.

"Garrett, sir. Shot both the guards – killed them, shot me too, when I was trying to defend them."

"Garrett?" asked Coulson disbelievingly, wondering if the other agent had been more badly affected by blood loss than he'd anticipated.

"Yes sir," Trip gasped as Coulson tightened a tourniquet around his thigh.

"Why would Garrett shoot fellow agents?"

Trip grabbed Coulson's wrist in his blood-stained right hand. "He's the one behind Centipede, sir. He's the Clairvoyant."

"What?" Coulson was so surprised he could only stare at the young man in disbelief, then he shook his head and resumed tying a field dressing over the wound on his upper arm. "How much blood have you lost?"

"I'm serious, sir," Trip said insistently. "He admitted it to us himself, right before he killed Bob and Pete, before he shot me, too."

"This is crazy," Coulson said, but even as he said it, he found himself wondering if Trip was right. He'd considered the possibility that the Clairvoyant was actually a high level SHIELD agent, just because of all the personal information they'd given to Raina, which she had mentioned to him when she'd had him in that machine of hers. He had hated the idea, though, and had refused to consider it seriously – which had been short-sighted of him, he realised.

"I'm sorry, sir," Trip said. "I know you and he have been friends a long time."

"Not your fault, Agent Triplett," Coulson told him.

"Where's Skye?" asked the younger man suddenly.

Coulson felt his heart lurch and his stomach clench as he realised that he'd left her to possibly face Garrett on her own. "I thought she'd be here by now," he told Trip, then looked up at the sound of footsteps running up the hallway. The surge of relief he felt at the sight of Skye rushing towards him made him feel dizzy, but he got to his feet and moved to meet her.

"Are you all right?" he asked anxiously, checking her over visually.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I hid in one of the rooms until he'd passed me. I got the door jammed – no one'll get it open without using explosives on it."

"Trouble is, there's plenty of Semtex down in the reception area," Coulson said, "and Garrett knows how to use that stuff."

She nodded, looking distracted, then glanced at Trip. "How bad is he?"

"Not good," Coulson said. "GSW to the shoulder and the thigh."

"Then you'd better get him out of here," she said.

"We had better – " he began.

"No." She spoke firmly. "You take Trip – you'll be able to move him more easily than I could. I'll go back and deal with Garrett."

"You can't!" Coulson protested. "You've barely any field combat experience. And Garrett's the Clairvoyant."

She raised her eyebrows at that, then said, "But he came alone?"

Coulson frowned. "Yeah. He told me, when I met him in the corridor, that the Clairvoyant was here and had brought Centipede soldiers with him – but he must have just said that to distract me, or we'd be dealing with them right now." He grabbed her upper arms. "You should come with me and help me with Trip. Garrett's already killed two men and badly wounded a third – all trained agents – Level Six's. You're not even a Level One yet, not officially."

She snorted. "What difference does that make?" she demanded. "You're definitely not expendable – you need to get out of here so you can tell Fury about Garrett. Who knows who else has been working for him from within SHIELD? You need to ensure Centipede's fully destroyed."

"But – " Coulson began, but she cut him off.

"AC, think about it. How did Garrett know we were here? And why has he come here? He must have the Bus bugged to know to come here, and to think that there's something here worth finding." He saw her eyes light up. "Of course. The GH-325. I told you that you'd been given it – what if that was the drug that brought you back to life? And Garrett wants it to put in the serum for his super soldiers – so that they can be brought back as well."

Coulson felt sick at the thought, but he didn't doubt Skye had it right. And if the Bus was bugged then what else did Garrett know about? And had he really come alone, or were May and FitzSimmons dealing with Centipede soldiers even now? He felt torn.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

"Get out of here, Coulson," Skye said, pushing at his shoulder. "Get Trip back to the Bus before he bleeds out. And don't come back for me."

"I can't just leave you here to face Garrett," he protested angrily again. "He's got years of experience on you."

"AC, _please_!" she begged. "Do you think Simmons would forgive either one of us if we let Trip die?" She grabbed his shoulders, then lifted her hands to his face, and kissed him on the mouth, quick and hard, then pushed him away. "I love you, AC, and I always have, but you must go."

He tried to speak, choked, then said, "I love you, too, Skye." He turned and hurried back along the hallway to where Trip was sprawled against the wall, still bleeding from his wounds. 

"C'mon Trip," Coulson said, carefully lifting the younger man to his feet. "Let's go and get that looked at."

"Skye?" Trip mumbled as they lurched down the hallway together, leaving Skye behind, and a large part of Coulson's regenerated heart, he felt.

"She'll be along shortly," Coulson said, desperately wanting it to be true, desperately fearing that she would not.

Behind them Skye ran towards the man who'd called himself the Clairvoyant, the man who had engineered Centipede, the man whom she felt sure would be quite certain that an impulsive young hacker was going to die down here. That might be true, for all she knew, but one thing Skye did know was that she had never felt stronger, faster, or smarter than she did now. She thought of conversations with May when they'd been training, of the clarity of mind and finely honed focus May had talked about experiencing before going into a fight that had the odds stacked against her, and Skye suspected that she now knew just what the older woman had meant.

And as she ran to what she suspected was almost certain death, Skye felt that she'd never been more alive: her blood seemed to be singing in her veins. She wished that she'd admitted her feelings to Coulson sooner – one kiss wasn't enough, but she couldn't regret sending him away with Trip.

She found Garrett trying to pry open the door to the TAHITI Project room.

"Good luck with that," she called as she ran through the door. "I jammed it good."

Garrett laughed, looking delighted to see her again. "Ah, sweet Skye, I thought you'd gone."

"Not yet," she said, and launched herself at him.

It was immediately obvious to her that she'd taken him completely by surprise as he went down under a rain of rapid blows that she couldn't help feeling she'd never executed so flawlessly before when practising them with May.

"You know, Coulson was worried about me going up against you," she told him as he fumbled for the gun in his shoulder holster. "He seemed to think your years of field work would tell against me." She snatched the gun free, then flung it aside.

"In this case, though, I think youth tells against experience. What do you think, John?"

She'd allowed him to get to his feet, but he barely had time to resister he was upright before she knocked him flat on the ground again.

"C'mon John, I asked you a question, and you still haven't answered."

"You're wrong," he ground out, obviously in a lot of pain, which surprised her, because she knew she lacked sufficient strength to really hurt him the way May would have.

"Am I? Are you sure of that, John? 'cos it looks to me like youth is definitely ahead of the game."

He snarled, lurched upwards, and slashed at her left arm with a knife which seemed to have come out of nowhere – she certainly hadn't seen it in his hand a moment before. Skye felt a surge of pain, then a flash of incandescent rage that seemed to fill her head with a white-hot light. She found herself vaguely remembering an occasion when she'd become enraged while at the orphanage. She'd been five or six then, and one of the older orphans had snatched the book she was reading out of her hands, run down the hall to the bathroom, and flushed it down the toilet. It had got jammed, but it was too late, the book was already ruined, and Skye, furiously angry, had launched herself at the older girl, coming very close to doing some permanent damage to her tormentor. 

After she'd come back to herself, nothing the nuns could say to her had terrified her half as much as the fact that she'd lost control so completely, and since then she'd always restrained such anger. Now, however, she didn't even try – she just let it fill her up, then she turned it on Garrett, letting the rage pour out of her like a long dammed river.

When she came back to an awareness of herself, Garrett was lying on the ground before her, bleeding heavily and badly injured to judge by the unusual angles that his arms and legs were bent at. He was still breathing, however, or more accurately, wheezing.

"Seems Raina was right about you," he rasped as she took a step back from him, realising what she'd done. "You're just like your father."

"My father?" Skye said in a harsh voice that she barely recognised as her own. "My father's dead."

"No. Talk to Raina."

"You talk to me," she said, hauling him up into a sitting position.

"No chance, girl. I was already dying before you broke me."

"Dying?"

He coughed. "Yeah, Been dying a long time. S'why I started Centipede – to keep me alive until I could find out how Phil survived, so I could do the same." He squinted up at her. "Thwarted me good, you have."

"Serves you right," she said angrily. "After everything you've done, all the people you've killed – just to prevent your own death. You disgust me."

"Bit hypocritical of you, girl, considering who you hang out with."

Skye felt her rage building again, and did her best to hold it in check. "Don't you dare bring Coulson into this! He didn't ask to survive. He wanted to die after Fury brought him back, but he wasn't given the choice. You're pathetic!"

She turned and walked away from him before she could lose control entirely. Behind her Garrett called after her, but she ignored him, her walk becoming a trot, and then a flat out run as she raced back towards the exit.

She reached what she thought of as the reception area, glancing briefly at the two dead soldiers Garrett had killed when he arrived, then she turned her attention to the explosive Coulson had mentioned.

She didn't know anything about explosives since no one had covered them in her training, but she knew it went bang under the right circumstances. She crouched down by the nearest lump of the stuff, and pulled some pieces free, which she then placed at the base of the framed windows either side of the automatic doors. She had no idea if Garrett had been telling the truth about being at death's door, but she was taking no chances.

She pulled out the gun she hadn't even drawn to use on Garrett, stepped through the doors, then fired two shots in rapid succession, causing a rather bigger boom than she'd anticipated. It occurred to her that maybe blowing up the Guest House while she was still inside the facility was not the best idea. And she began to run.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go - final chapter (with the Avengers - oh and some porn!). I hope it works for everyone. And thanks to everyone who's read and left comments and Kudos.

Getting Trip back to the Bus wasn't an easy task, nor was it helped by the fact that Coulson was worrying about Skye, and what was happening back inside the medical facility.

He'd barely emerged when May came running towards him, looking like she'd been in a fight, but clearly not badly hurt.

"What happened?" they asked each other simultaneously.

"Ward," answered May, deferring to her superior officer. "Garrett brought him along – to cross us off."

"FitzSimmons – " began Coulson, knowing that Simmons was Trip's only hope of survival.

"They're both fine," May said.

"And Ward?"

"Unconscious in the holding cell. I thought you'd want to question him. Where's Skye?"

"Inside," Coulson said. "Dealing with Garrett."

"What?" demanded May. "We have to go and help her."

"We have to get Trip immediate medical attention," Coulson snapped, and after a moment's hesitation she nodded; between them they carried the young agent the rest of the way to the Bus, then up the ramp. FitzSimmons came to meet them wheeling a gurney, onto which May helped Coulson lift Trip.

"He's suffered two GSW – one to the shoulder, the other to the thigh," Coulson told Simmons. "May, you need to get the Bus ready to leave at a moment's notice."

He turned away, and May caught his shoulder, holding him back. "Where are you going?"

"After Skye," he said, pulling free.

"She's likely dead," May told him, not unkindly. "You know how much more experience Garrett had than Skye."

"I'm going after the woman I love, Agent May," he said fiercely. "You have your orders. See that you carry them out."

Coulson turned away, ignoring the looks of astonishment May and FitzSimmons were giving him, and ran down the loading ramp. He was barely halfway back to the doors of the Guest House when the plateau shook violently as an explosion boomed out of the bunker, and he was knocked to the ground, his ears ringing. 

He managed to get to his hands and knees, but a second percussion knocked him over again. A moment later he heard someone yelling, "Get up AC!", then Skye's hands were hauling him up, and they held onto each other as they ran back towards the Bus which was about to take off.

Somehow Skye propelled them both up the ramp, which closed behind them, and they stumbled to a stop, clutching at each other, and trying to catch their breath.

"You're alive," Coulson gasped idiotically. "Are you all right?"

"Fine. I'm fine," she told him breathlessly.

He opened his mouth to ask further questions, but she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him properly.

"You're bleeding," he exclaimed when she finally pulled away and let him catch his breath again.

"What? Oh yeah. Garrett," she said, apparently completely unconcerned by the blood soaked into her shirt sleeve.

"Are you completely crazy?" he demanded angrily.

She shook her head. "No, just Inhuman." Seeing his bewildered look, she added, "Garrett told me. Apparently Raina told him – she knows my father. He's still alive.

Coulson shook his head. "You'd better come and let me look at that," he told her. "You're not making much sense." He wondered just what had happened in the Guest House to send Skye back to him, alive, but talking nonsense.

To his surprise she didn't make any objection to going with him, but they'd barely reached the top of the spiral staircase before she said "Crap", and collapsed at his feet.

He bit back a curse, then bent and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her the rest of the way to the Med Bay.

He reached it simultaneously with May, who looked alarmed at the sight of Skye's body in his arms. "She's alive," he said hurriedly. "Passed out though, from blood loss, I think."

May followed him through the doors and Simmons looked up from where she was working on Trip.

"I've got this," Coulson reassured her immediately.

"What happened?" May asked quietly as she grabbed gauze and bandages, while Coulson eased Skye out of her shirt.

"I don't know, exactly," he admitted. "She wasn't making a lot of sense, but she did tell me that Garrett had cut her." He kept to himself Skye's comments about her father and being Inhuman. He had no intention of repeating that until he could get some answers from Skye.

"Where have you set a course for?" he asked suddenly, beginning to clean the blood from Skye's arm.

"The Fridge."

He nodded.

May uttered a soft curse when she saw the full extent of the knife wound on Skye's arm. Coulson was too stunned to curse: he was busy wondering how the young woman had stayed on her feet long enough to reach the Bus.

"You'd better stitch that," May said, then looked at his face and asked, "Do you want me to do it?"

Coulson shook his head, then took the sutures May passed him and began methodically closing up the six inch long slice that Garrett had given Skye. It was appallingly deep, and she'd have quite a scar afterwards.

"How did she manage to get out of there without collapsing?" wondered May. "She lost a lot of blood."

Coulson shook his head, trying to ignore the icy hand that seemed to be clutching at his heart and gut. "Adrenalin, I suppose. You'd know more about that than me." He deliberately didn't look at her as he was worried she'd see his fear in his face. Was Skye an Inhuman – whatever that meant – after all, they knew she was an 084. Or was there an ordinary explanation for her getting so far without collapsing from blood loss sooner? He reckoned it had taken him and Trip at least fifteen minutes to get back to the Bus, and even assuming Garrett hadn't sliced Skye's arm until just before she left the Guest House, she'd still managed to stay on her feet, set off the explosives, help him up after the explosion knocked him down, and then board the Bus before she'd collapsed. 

He was just finishing bandaging her arm when she groaned, then grabbed his wrist with her free hand.

"Skye?" He spoke her name softly, feeling a sick fear roil in his belly at the expression in her eyes, and the speed at which she'd moved. The grip of her hand on his wrist was already making his fingers go numb.

"AC," she acknowledged, and released his wrist. "Sorry. Thought it was Garrett again."

"Garrett's dead," May said in a neutral tone. "You dropped the mountain on his head."

"Good," the younger woman said with quiet emphasis. "He was sick in the head."

Coulson frowned, then looked around when Simmons appeared at his side. "How's Trip?" he asked immediately. 

"He'll be okay," she said quietly. "Thank you, sir."

Coulson shook his head. "We don't leave our people behind if I can help it." He watched as she visually checked Skye over.

"You should get something to eat," the young scientist said, "And not a snack."

She turned to Coulson. "I trust you're not harbouring any injuries, sir?"

He shook his head. "I was the lucky one." He glanced from May to Skye. "We'd better debrief. In the galley. I want you two to tell me everything I missed."

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Skye accepted the plate of food May put in front of her as they sat around a table in the galley. May had brought a glass of Scotch, and Coulson had a cup of tea beside him that he was ignoring as May began to explain that Garrett and Ward had turned up suddenly, arriving in a cloaked Quinjet, and that while Garrett had headed directly inside the Guest House, Ward had come straight for the Bus.

"He claimed that he and Garrett had come to warn us that the Clairvoyant was on his way here to cross off Skye and Coulson," May said, "but I didn't believe him."

"Why not?" Skye asked curiously.

"His first question should have been a query about Coulson's whereabouts since he's the senior officer. But it was obvious that he really wasn't interested in Coulson at all."

Skye scowled, then ate another mouthful of stir fry.

"I let him think you were aboard the Bus – that Coulson had only taken Trip with him, but as soon as he was up the ramp, I jumped him."

"Did he have much to say for himself?" Coulson asked.

May shook her head. "Beyond wanting to know where Skye was, and saying that he could take her to her father, no."

Skye tried not to flinch as the two of them looked at her; she could see that they were concerned about her, especially Coulson, and she couldn't blame them, but she didn't really know what to say about Garrett and Ward's claim that her father was still alive. She didn't believe it – if he was alive, why hadn't he tracked her down by now?

"Tell me what happened between you and Garrett," Coulson said. He voice was gentle, but it was unmistakably an order from a superior officer.

She ate the last mouthful of her food, then pushed the plate aside, and told them both. She couldn't look at their faces when she described the rage that had come over her and what little she could recall of her attack on Garrett – she didn't want to see the revulsion in their eyes when they realised that she truly was an 084, and dangerous with it.

There was a brief silence at the end of her recital; Skye kept her eyes on her hands which were folded in her lap. A killer's hands, she realised. She had killed John Garrett. She lurched to her feet and rushed to the sink, reaching it just in time to throw up.

Coulson was beside her immediately, one hand on her left arm, the other rubbing her back, just as she'd rubbed his a few nights ago when a nightmare had made him throw up.

"It's okay, Skye, it's okay," he said softly. "It was you or Garrett, and he wouldn't have hesitated to kill you, if he'd been able."

May appeared on her other side and gave her a glass of water to rinse out her mouth. "Coulson's right," she said. "You've nothing to be ashamed of for crossing him off."

"But I'm a monster," she gasped. "An Inhuman."

"Rubbish," said May instantly. "You may not be fully human – but we already knew that anyway since you're an 084 – but you're not a monster."

Coulson eased her away from her grip on the edges of the sink, and held her upper arms, staring at her. "May's right. You're not a monster. And whether you're an Inhuman or not, doesn't matter. You're a SHIELD agent, and we look after our own."

She shook her head. "SHIELD wouldn't want me, not now – " she began, but Coulson cut her off.

"Skye, I was in charge of the Avengers Initiative, and one of the Avengers is Doctor Bruce Banner, also known as the Hulk. If SHIELD's prepared to work with him, why wouldn't they work with you?"

"I – " She stopped, choking on her protests as she saw the way he was looking at her. She began to cry, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. She felt May's hand on her back, then heard the other woman walking away.

"It's okay, Skye, it's okay. I've got you." Coulson was rubbing at her back, and she was reminded of the times she'd done the same thing for him.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, and he squeezed her, then loosened his arms enough to pull back and look at her.

"Look at me," he said softly. She lifted her head and he smiled. "I love you. Doesn't matter whether you're an 084, an alien, or just a human being – I will still love you."

"But I'm dangerous," she protested.

He chuckled. "I hate to break it to you, but so am I. So're May and Trip – and even FitzSimmons, in their own ways, are dangerous. So welcome to the club."

She managed a weak chuckle at that, and he reached up to brush her hair off her face. "I love you, too," she whispered.

He gave her a satisfied smirk. "Yeah, I know."

"Don't get all insufferable on me," she said, her tone more vigorous.

His smirk became a full blown grin. "Can't help it," he said. "You love me. You said so yourself. Twice."

"God, AC, you're a dork!"

He chuckled, and after a moment she laughed too.

"That's better," he said. "Come on, let's go to my office and sort some things out. Just because you're having an existential crisis, doesn't mean there isn't work to do."

It was amazing, she thought, how he could always make her feel better.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

**Six weeks later**

It had been a long, tiring, and often tedious, six weeks for Skye, but tonight was her last night at the Sandbox. She'd been prodded, poked, and tested to destruction – or so it felt – but everyone was finally satisfied that it was okay for her to rejoin Coulson's team aboard the Bus. 

He'd come to see her once a week, on a Friday night, to take her out to dinner, and she'd revelled in their long evenings together, flying away from the Sandbox in Lola to have dinner in the tiny, off-the-beaten-track restaurants that Coulson seemed to favour, and which she'd grown to love by association. They'd spend dinner catching up on each other's news: Coulson and the team's efforts to finish Centipede for good, which included arresting Ian Quinn, and the discovery that one of his subsidiary companies, Cybertek, had been responsible for building the tech behind the Centipede super soldiers. The court-martial of Agent Grant Ward, and his imprisonment at The Fridge. The testing of Skye's blood and DNA, and of her 'powers' as the senior Sandbox scientist assigned to her case persisted in calling them. And her occasional meetings with the Avengers. 

The first had been Dr Bruce Banner, who had shown up one lunchtime and taken the seat opposite Skye in the canteen without warning or fanfare. She had stared at him in disbelief, then shaken hands carefully.

"Hello Skye. I'm Bruce. They've called me in to talk to you about anger management."

"I – You – Wow!" she stuttered, trying to get her head around this unexpected event. "Hello. Thank you."

He gave her a gentle smile, as if her incoherence was only to be expected, then nodded at her empty plate. "Are you finished?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go then."

She followed him upstairs to the lab which had become her second home during the two weeks she'd already been here, and he gestured for her to take a seat, then sat down beside her. 

"Can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Go on."

"Why are you here?"

"Because Agent Coulson requested my help to assist you," he said, as if it ought to be obvious. "He was in charge of the Avengers Initiative before the Battle of New York, and he looked out for me, so of course I said that I'd help if I could."

She was good at reading people, and Skye could see he was being entirely sincere, and not only that, that he cared very much about Coulson.

"Thank you, Dr Banner."

He shook his head. "Call me Bruce." 

He taught her a variety of meditation techniques, which she thought she'd find hard to master, given her tendency to be doing rather than sitting still, but she'd surprised herself, though not, apparently, Bruce, by picking them up quickly. He also encouraged her to continue the Tai Chi she had begun with May.

Four days later he was gone, called away on an urgent mission, but she had been glad of his help and advice, and the stories he'd told her about Coulson over their lunches and dinners together.

On the Saturday following her usual dinner with Coulson after Dr Banner's departure, she'd gone down to the gym to work out and found two people waiting for her: Agents Romanov and Barton – which had led to more stuttering on Skye's part.

"We'll be working with you twice a week, so long as we're not on a mission – keep your training up to speed since Agents May and Triplett are busy," Romanov told her.

"Did Coulson send you?" she asked, beginning to wonder if he had decided to get every single one of the Avengers involved in her 'case'.

"He asked us if we could suggest someone suitable to help," Clint said. "We told him we'd be delighted to assist you ourselves."

"Wow. I mean, thanks. I mean – wow!"

Clint chuckled at her. "Trip told me that you are good with small arms, but you've not tried anything bigger yet?"

"Yeah." She felt heat on her cheeks and asked, "He didn't tell you that I kept confusing the magazine release and the safety release, did he?"

Clint smirked. "He didn't see fit to mention it – but now you've told me." She groaned and he patted her arm. "Don't worry about it. I daresay if you were to try to teach me how to hack, I'd screw it up, too."

"Oh, yeah. I didn't do too good at it when I started."

"There you go then. Everything takes time and patience, and practice."

"I'm going to teach you more unarmed combat," Romanov said. "Agent May told me that you've already got the basics down, so I'll teach you some moves that allow you to take advantage of your speed and size. You'll never have May's build and strength, but that doesn't mean you can't learn to take the bad guys down, even when you're not in the grip of the rage."

After that Skye got used to going to bed on Saturdays and Tuesdays aching from head to foot, but she learned quickly and well, and despite her original doubts, she did learn enough to be able to take down Natasha, which awed her more than a little. She found herself anticipating showing May what she'd learned with no small amount of relish.

Her fourth encounter with an Avenger took place outside the Sandbox. Coulson came to pick her up for Sunday lunch at the end of her fifth week, even though she'd only had dinner with him two days before.

"Where are we going?" she asked. 

"Lunch with Steve Rogers."

"Get outta here!" she exclaimed disbelievingly. "Lunch with Captain America? No way!"

He laughed. "You'll see."

And she had seen. Sunday lunch with Steve Rogers had proved very enjoyable, although she couldn't remember what they'd eaten, aside from an ice cream dessert that had blown her mind, because she'd been too busy taking in every detail of Steve Rogers the man, as opposed to the legendary Captain America. She'd been amused that Coulson seemed inclined to fanboy the other man, but Steve had quickly and quietly deflected that behaviour until they were talking like old friends. The really good bit as far as Skye was concerned, was that they both drew her into their conversation so that she never felt like an unwanted third party. 

Afterwards Coulson had driven her back to the Sandbox and she'd realised that she felt connected to SHIELD in a new way; the story Coulson had told her of Avery's shadow protocol had made her feel connected, because she'd felt that SHIELD had been her unseen family, looking after her without her knowledge. But meeting Steve had made her feel connected to SHIELD's history and origins, and had made her realise that no matter what she was, she still wanted to be a part of the work they did. 

Now it was her last night and she had packed her few belongings (she still travelled light) into the case Coulson had got for her, and she was looking forward to being back aboard the Bus tomorrow, to seeing May and Trip and working with them, and to giggling over FitzSimmons' ability to babble high tech science talk and leave everyone else wondering what they were talking about.

While she stood wondering what to do with herself this final evening, there was a knock on the door, and she looked up to see Coulson standing there – although it took her a moment to realise it _was_ Coulson since he was wearing jeans and a thick sweater.

"Wow, AC! You own clothes that aren't a suit. I'm impressed."

He smirked at her, but there was something in that smirk that she hadn't seen before – something that made her stomach do a back flip and her heart start pounding.

"I've come to spring you a few hours early," he said, and wandered into the room, closing the door behind him.

"Oh?" She tried to maintain an attitude of nonchalance, but it wasn't easy: the air seemed to be charged with the electricity between them, and she could swear her skin was tingling.

"Yeah." He stepped right into her personal space, sliding his arms around her body, then lowered his mouth and kissed her.

Skye felt as if every bone in her body was melting; no one had ever kissed her with such intensity or passion before, and she couldn't help moaning into Coulson's mouth as his tongue roved around the inside her mouth, stroking her tongue, her teeth, and the roof of her mouth in turn.

When he finally pulled back to allow them both to catch their breath she could only give him a dazed look.

"Is there something I should know?" she managed after a few moments.

"I've missed you," he said simply.

"You've seen me every week," she reminded him, slightly puzzled.

"Yeah, but you haven't been sleeping in my bed."

She stared at him. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" she asked.

"I'm saying that I've missed sharing my bed with you. That I love you, and I want to make love to you." He kissed her lightly and briefly. "If you agree, I want to take you to dinner and we'll spend the night at a hotel before you return to the Bus tomorrow."

"I'd like that," she whispered. 

"Good." He let go of her long enough to grab her case, then wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. "Let's go."

She let him lead her out, feeling a little like he'd swept her off her feet, which was exactly the feeling she'd had when he and Ward had appeared outside her van back in LA, although, if she was honest, she'd found herself fancying him even when they'd met back in New Mexico.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

Coulson could hardly keep his eyes off Skye during dinner and it required a great deal of restraint on his part to let her eat her meal. The last six weeks had been longest of his second life, he felt, and he was tired of sleeping on his own.

"Doesn't SHIELD have rules against this sort of thing?" she asked as he led her into the elevator that would take them up to their room.

"Well if Director Fury wants to take it up with me, he can," Coulson said curtly. "But given what he did to me, I think he owes me, and I'll tell him so to his face."

"Very masterful, AC," Skye said, then she kissed him, quick and hard, and he groaned, but the elevator doors opened before he could think of retaliating.

He took her hand in his and led her down the hallway until they reached the door. He swiped the keycard, then pushed the door open, before scooping Skye up into his arms and carrying her across the threshold, which set her off giggling.

"You are such a dork," she told him as he set her back down on her feet.

"So you keep telling me," he observed. "I prefer to think of myself as a romantic."

"Yeah, you're that, too." 

He smirked, then turned to close the door, hanging a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the handle outside first.

When he turned around, Skye was standing at the foot of the bed, staring at it, but she turned when he approached, and immediately wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I like romantic guys, by the way," she said, then kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth, as she pressed her body firmly against his. 

"Good," he said breathlessly. "That's very good." He felt as if he might never stop kissing her, but she made it clear she wanted more from him than mere kissing by palming him through his jeans so that he moaned into her mouth.

"Come on, AC, time to properly show me what you've got," she said, her tone teasing him. He could have sworn he grew even harder at her words as he remembered the nights when they'd shared his bed and he'd longed to do more than spoon with her.

"I – Christ!"

She startled the words out of him when she slipped her hand inside his jeans – he hadn't even noticed she'd got them unfastened, yet she was already curling hot fingers around his thick shaft.

"You like that, do you, Coulson?" she asked.

"What do _you_ think?" he demanded, growing breathless as she slid her hand up and down his length.

"I think you need to ditch your clothes, and fuck me," she answered, pulling her hand free, which made him whine pathetically at the loss of her touch.

"Shh," she said, her breath hot against his ear before she bit him on the lobe. She eased his jeans off his hips and he grabbed her hips, then lifted her up. She immediately wrapped her legs around his waist, incidentally pressing her panty-clad pussy against his cock.

He felt inordinately grateful that she'd worn a dress this evening, even though she hadn't known in advance that they'd be doing this.

"This'd be easier on the bed," she told him, without stopping the movement of her sex against his cock.

He grunted, then moaned as she shifted against him. "Fine, fine," he muttered and stepped towards the bed, trying to kneel on the edge as he lowered her down. Either he lost his balance or he misjudged the distance, he wasn't sure which, but while Skye landed on the bed, he went down onto the floor with a yelp of shock.

She laughed, then crawled down the bed to peer at him. "I hope you haven't damaged anything?"

"Only my pride," he told her, feeling more than a little mortified. He grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled himself up to his feet, and she shifted backwards on the bed, sprawling invitingly on her back.

He pulled off his shoes, socks, and jeans, then tugged his sweater over his head, but he left his t-shirt on for the moment.

"Do you normally go commando?" Skye asked interestedly.

"Only if I'm wearing jeans," he admitted.

She smirked. "I don't suppose I can persuade you to always wear jeans, can I AC?"

He shook his head, then reached out to remove her panties, noticing that they were already damp. He licked his lips unconsciously, wondering if she would let him go down on her later. He tossed her panties aside, then crawled up the bed towards her, and she wrapped her arms and legs around him eagerly, pulling his head down for an open-mouthed kiss that left him shaking with desire.

"Skye." He moaned her name into her mouth, and she chuckled quietly.

"It's okay, AC, I've got you." She had, too – her hand was wrapped around his cock and she guided it towards her sex.

"Wait," he gasped. "What about protection?"

"It's okay, AC. I've got that covered, but thank you for asking."

His only response was a "Mmnf" as her heat enveloped him and he felt himself sinking into her. He wondered desperately how he was going to last more than five seconds without losing control, but she took pity on him, and let him simply hold himself inside her.

"You feel good," she told him, nuzzling the side of his neck, before kissing him again.

"So do you," he said quickly. "So good."

She slid her hands down his back, then cupped the cheeks of his ass and pulled, and he groaned, but he couldn't stop himself from beginning to move.

"I may not last long," he told her.

"What makes you think I'm gonna last any longer than you?" she asked, eyebrows raised. "Don't worry about it, we've got all night."

He choked on laughter. "Skye, how much do you know about male physiology?"

"Enough," she assured him. "Don't worry, I know all about refractory periods – and that yours will probably be longer than a guy my age. It doesn't matter – there are other ways for me to enjoy being in your bed with you."

She bit on his bottom lip, then sucked it into her mouth, and he kissed her eagerly, even as he thrust into her. She was right, of course, there were other things they could enjoy doing, and he looked forward to doing all of them with her.

AC-S-AC-S-AC

They did manage to get some sleep, to Coulson's relief, and they also enjoyed a slow, sleepy fuck first thing the next morning before showering and eating breakfast. He'd just returned their room key when he heard a voice he hadn't expected to hear addressing Skye, and he turned around quickly.

"You must be Skye," observed Director Fury, offering his hand. 

For a moment Coulson wasn't sure she was going to take it, but she did shake Fury's hand as Coulson stepped to her side.

"Agent Coulson." 

"Director."

"If you two can spare me a few minutes, there's a couple of things I want to talk to you about," Fury said, and Coulson nodded, wondering what had happened to bring the Director himself to come looking for them.

He led the way out of hotel lobby, then across the street to a coffee shop. He gave them both a brief, unreadable glance when Coulson guided Skye into the booth and sat beside her, his hand on her knee under the table.

"I came to thank you, Skye, for your work in taking down Centipede, and for crossing off the Clairvoyant."

She raised an eyebrow, then said, "You're welcome, Director."

"In light of all you've done for us over the last few months, I thought it only fair to give you this." He pulled a slim black leather wallet from his pocket, then held it out to her.

She glanced at Coulson, and he nodded, then watched as she took the wallet and flicked it open. Inside was a SHIELD Agent's badge, for the Logistics Division.

"You're earned that," Fury told her. "In fact, you've more than earned it, and I've told Agent Hill that you'll be starting at Level Three."

Coulson bit back a smile of triumph when he saw Skye's expression – he'd never seen her so dumbstruck.

"Thank you, sir."

Fury nodded, then turned his attention to Coulson. "I suspect you think I owe you an apology," he observed.

"Clearly, from your words, you don't agree," Coulson said, folding his arms across his chest. He felt Skye's hand clasp his thigh under the table.

"In light of your current situation, Agent Coulson, do you really expect me to be sorry I brought you back?"

Coulson sighed. He had to admit that he was happier with Skye than he'd ever been with any other woman, even Audrey Nathan.

"No, sir."

"Good. Because I'm not. You'd have to screw up monumentally before I'd be sorry. And I know you, Phil – you rarely screw up, and never to that extent. I strongly suggest that you make the most of your second chance."

"Does that mean you're not going to reprimand him for starting a relationship with me?" Skye asked, and Coulson couldn't help smirking a little at Fury's sudden blink of surprise; it was clear he hadn't expected her to ask such a direct question.

"No, I'm not going to tell him off."

"Good, because after what you and Raina put him through, if anyone deserves to be happy, it's AC," she said firmly.

Coulson found himself holding his breath as he waited for Fury's response.

"I agree with you, Agent Skye. I trust, however, that you'll both be discreet." 

"Yes sir," Coulson said quickly, then looked at Skye.

"We will," she agreed. 

"Good. Well, I won't keep you any longer – I believe you two have got a Bus to catch." He got to his feet, then went out without a backward glance.

"Well you've definitely made a big first impression," Coulson said quietly. She gave him an enquiring look, and he smirked. "He's given us permission to 'fraternise' – which I'd never have expected."

"He owes you," Skye said simply. She leaned over and kissed him, quick and hard, then squeezed his thigh. "The man's right, though – we've got a Bus to catch."

He nodded. "Let's go to work."


End file.
